Sen. John Velis of Westfield said Tuesday that he will be deployed to active duty with his unit of the Mass. National Guard to the southwestern border of the country “in the imminent future.”
The Democrat’s office said it would remain fully operational during the senator’s deployment to assist constituents and respond to inquiries. The office said Velis, a major in the Massachusetts National Guard, was “unable to share further details regarding the deployment and is unavailable for media comment.”
Velis could miss Senate sessions starting Thursday, when the Senate is expected to take up bills dealing with access to menstrual products, ingredient disclosures on menstrual products, land use restrictions on a Foxborough property, and safety protections around disabled and utility vehicles. A spending bill closing the books on fiscal year 2025 is expected to come before the Senate next week.
The Massachusetts National Guard is a reserve component of the U.S. Army and Air Force that operates partially under state authority, and its members can be called upon by either the governor or, in certain cases, the president of the United States. The role of the guard nationally has been hotly debated this year as President Donald Trump has moved to deploy guard members to carry out more traditional law enforcement operations in some Democrat-controlled cities.