At the end of June, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem announced that she will send fifty National Guard troops to Texas in response to Governor Abbott’s call for help with the Biden border crisis. When the announcement was made, and the fact that a Tennessee billionaire would be footing the bill was reported, Noem came under fire from critics. On Wednesday Noem’s office announced that an additional 125 troops from South Dakota will be sent to the Texas border later this year.

Noem’s brand is as a governor not afraid to make decisions and act on them, even in the face of criticism. She gets headlines for making decisions viewed as controversial by the media. In this case, it looks like she is pushing back on those criticizing private funding for the troops being sent to help on the southern border and sending even more troops. Maybe it was the plan all along to send more troops later this year. If so, though, it seems odd that she made one announcement last month and an additional announcement this week. Two headlines for the same decision? Anyway, help is on the way from South Dakota.

Thanks to a million-dollar donation from the Willis and Reba Johnson Foundation, the deployment of troops will be covered privately. Willis Johnson told reporters that he wanted to step up and donate to Noem’s efforts because she responded to Abbott’s request for help so quickly. Johnson likes to stay behind the scenes, but that isn’t happening this time. He began in the scrap business after serving in Vietnam and built his business into what is now known as Copart Inc., a publicly-traded global business. He is a Republican donor. Media reports like to play up the fact that he was a Trump donor.

Now a prolific donor, he’s given at least $2.3 million to federal campaigns over the past decade, including $900,000 to Trump, records show.

“America has been good to me. The Lord has been good to me,” said Johnson, whose memoir is titled “From Junk to Gold: Lessons I Learned.”

“I help upcoming senators, congressmen and governors. I’m behind the scenes. I try to keep it quiet.” Until now.

Separately, his family’s philanthropy, Willis and Reba Johnson’s Foundation, typically gives $1 million or more a year to churches and charities — including so-called abortion alternative services, disclosures show.

Noem’s press release Wednesday spoke of troop readiness and commitment to the deployment. The first deployment of troops – the original 50 – will last for 30-60 days. The second deployment may last up to a year.

“Our South Dakota National Guard is the very best in the country, and they are prepared for the sustained response the national security crisis at our southern border requires,” Noem said in a news release. “I am hopeful that this mission indicates the Biden Administration is waking up to the devastating situation at the border.”

The soldiers, who will be deployed anywhere from nine months to a year and on federal pay status, are members of the South Dakota National Guard’s 1742nd Transportation Company stationed in Sioux Falls and Flandreau, the release states.

It is unconventional for a private donation to fund an operation like this but it is not illegal. The U.S. Defense Department and tax experts say it is permissible. The White House said it is the governor’s prerogative and the Department of Homeland Security has not responded.

As South Dakota’s governor, Noem has the legal authority to send her troops to Texas on state-activated duty, funded by the state, the defense officials said. The two states are also working within an existing emergency pact that allows them to send guard troops to each other when needed. Once in Texas, the South Dakota Guard troops would be under the Texas governor’s authority.

Officials said that the private funding given to South Dakota did not go directly to the National Guard. Instead it goes into the state treasury, and the state has wide latitude over how the money can be spent. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations on state matters.

The White House said the use and funding of the National Guard was the governor’s prerogative. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment.

The duties of the South Dakota National Guard contingent are not yet precisely known. Texas’ own guard will have a limited scope of duty that does not include making arrests and will focus instead on observing and reporting, according to statement from the agency.

Steven Bucklin, a professor emeritus at the University of South Dakota who has written on the history of the National Guard, said he was concerned about how the private donation threatened the distinction of the military as an apolitical organization.

“The optic is one that the South Dakota National Guard are soldiers of fortune and will go anywhere that some billionaire sends them,” he said, adding, “I think this is all politics.”

This isn’t the first time that South Dakota has helped with the southern border. From 2006 to 2008, the state’s National Guard participated in Operation Jump Start. That operation used National Guard units from across the country to deploy troops to Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California to help with that period’s illegal immigration crisis. In all, South Dakota sent 362 troops.