Remember a few weeks ago when the big story was the wide-open southern border?  It may be mostly out of the news cycle now (to make way for important things like Jennifer Lawrence’s nude photos, of course), but 400 National Guard troops are on the Texas border, with 1000 expected to eventually be deployed from Brownsville to McAllen.  What exactly are they doing?  Not even they really know, but the agency that deployed them says they’re “amplifying the visible presence on the ground and along the river.”

“Specifically, the Texas National Guard is providing a variety of subject matter experts and equipment primarily involving aviation assets, logistics and ground troops to support the state-led operations along the Texas-Mexico border,” the agency said.

That’s some buzzword bingo for you, right there.  A statement from one of the local residents, however, unwittingly reveals the true problem.

“We’ve been turning this eye away from it for so long that it’s gotten out of control,” Escobar said, adding that he welcomes the National Guard and any other border enforcement. “Now, we can’t handle it. Now, we’re afraid. Now, we want someone else to come in and handle it.”

And there it is: We have ignored it, and now it’s out of control.  Now we want someone else to come fix it.

Cue the military troops, who in actuality are doing nothing but standing there.  They are not shooting the people coming across illegally.  They are not deporting them.  They are simply providing a “visible presence” and detaining the people who come across.  Here’s the problem: We already know that the new policy is that those who get detained end up getting a free ride to their “family” anywhere in the US they want.  This is why illegals have been literally turning themselves into the Border Patrol.  They are walking across the wide open border, going up to the people who are supposed to protect and defend the border, and saying, in essence, “I’m here…where’s my free stuff?”  So in reality, the National Guard just makes it easier for those who are still coming to find someone to turn themselves into.

Those who are still obtuse enough to be cheering Rick Perry for deploying the Guard are ignoring two things: 1) The Guard isn’t there to actually close the border or even defend it, but to help collect and process those coming across, and 2) Rick Perry has long been all for giving benefits to illegals instead of deporting them.

The nation may be bored with talk of the border, but the problem is only getting worse.