Gov. Kemp Joins American Governors' Border Strike Task Force

Atlanta, GA – Governor Brian P. Kemp today announced that he has joined the American Governors' Border Strike Task Force. In the absence of federal leadership, states are partnering together to create the American Governors’ Border Strike Force to disrupt and dismantle transnational criminal organizations by increasing collaboration, improving intelligence, investing in analysis, combating human smuggling, and stopping drug flow in our states.

"What happens at our nation's Southern Border impacts every single community in America," said Governor Brian Kemp. "While President Biden largely ignores my colleagues and my proposals to secure our border and protect our communities, we are going to continue to be proactive in addressing these pressing issues. Together and on behalf of our constituents, we will coordinate and focus our efforts to target cartels and criminal networks. Our ultimate goal is to improve public safety, protect victims from horrific crimes, reduce the amount of drugs in our communities, and alleviate the humanitarian crisis at the Southern Border. As we do this important work, Marty, the girls, and I ask all Georgians to join us in praying for the brave men and women of our Georgia National Guard who are already engaged in these efforts in Texas."

The Border Strike Force will coordinate states’ efforts with two key missions to start.

Partner at the state fusion center level to disrupt and dismantle cartels:

• Share criminal justice information to improve investigations in the border region and nationwide, especially in communities adjacent to or crossing state boundaries.
• Coordinate and improve interdiction on interstates to combat drug trafficking and human smuggling.
• Co-locate intelligence analysts in border states to improve collaboration, real time response, intelligence sharing, and analysis connected to border security.
• Assist border states with supplemental staff and resources at state fusion centers, such as on rotation assignments, to share information obtained both on the border and in other states.
• Send law enforcement to train in border states to detect, track, and curb border-related crime.

Focus state law enforcement efforts to disrupt and dismantle cartels:

• Target cartel finances that fund criminal activity in the border regions to seize the tools used to assist the cartels.
• Monitor cybersecurity issues that may increase vulnerability along the Southern Border, such as criminal networks that operate on social media to recruit traffickers.
• Review state criminal statutes regarding human trafficking, drug trafficking, and transnational criminal organizations to ensure the laws deter, disrupt, and dismantle criminal activity.
• Review state criminal justice statistics and information to determine crimes that can be traced to the Southern Border.
• Develop interstate procedures to fill any identified gaps or identified inconsistencies in existing plans to address border crime.

Governors in the following states have also joined the American Governors' Border Strike Force: Arizona, Texas, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

A copy of the Memorandum of Understanding creating the American Governors' Border Strike Force is available upon request or online in the press release section at gov.georgia.gov.