Governor Rick Perry, who is toying with the (very bad) idea of running for president again, plans to send 1,000 Texas National Guardsmen to secure the border. According to The Monitor, which obtained an internal memo detailing the plan, this will cost about $12 million a month.

The memo, compiled by state officials, states that the move "is not a militarization of the border." Perry has floated the idea before, claiming that it's necessary to keep the "bad people" out of the country. He said the child migrant crisis is "pulling away the border patrol from their normal duties of keeping bad people, keeping the drug cartels, they're being distracted, so that I would suggest is a very obvious reason that those National Guard troops should come play an important role."

Perry wouldn't comment to The Washington Post on the plan, but his spokesman said the Governor will give details at a news conference this afternoon in Austin.

Perry has repeatedly criticized President Obama for not adequately securing the border, calling the current crisis Obama's "Katrina." He said Sunday, "If the federal government does not do its constitutional duty to secure the Southern border of the United States, the state of Texas will do it."

In an interview with The Monitor, Democratic State Senator Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa called out Perry's plan for what it is: "All these politicians coming down to border, they don't care about solving the problem, they just want to make a political point."

Update: Perry's calling the plan "Operation Strong Safety."

[Image via AP]