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Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens on Tuesday authorized the deployment of state Army National Guard troops to protect the southern border wall.

The embattled Republican governor deployed four soldiers and a UH-72 Lakota helicopter to use during missions to aide the U.S. Customs and Border Protection mission to protect the U.S.-Mexico border.

TRUMP'S NATIONAL GUARD REQUEST FOR US-MEXICO BORDER DRAWS RESPONSE FROM SURROUNDING STATES

Greiten's authoritization to deploy troops comes just weeks before he's scheduled to go on trial for an invasion of privacy indictment alleging he took and transmitted a nonconsensual photo of an at least partially nude woman in March 2015, before he was elected governor.

"Missourians are grateful to the President for recognizing the need to secure our borders," the governor's office stated. "We are proud that Missouri troops will play a support role in guarding against terrorism, protecting Americans from cartel violence, and enforcing our immigration laws."

The troops, scheduled to be deployed to Arizona according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, are slated to return mid-summer.

President Trump in April signed a proclamation to send National Guard troops to the southern border immediately in response to what his administration has described as an "unacceptable" flow of drugs, criminal activity and illegal immigrants.

Greitens' trial is scheduled for May 14.

Fox News' Kaitlyn Schallhorn, Samuel Chamberlain and Keith Harden contributed to this report.