At the bequest of Willis Johnson, a Tennessee billionaire and the deep pockets financing many conservative causes, South Dakota Republican Governor Kristi Noem dispatched 50 members of the state’s National Guard to the Texas border following a disaster announcement by Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott.

But as the New York Times reports, the privately-funded mission of the South Dakota National Guard–with dollars from Johnson (who, it should be noted, doesn’t even live in South Dakota) and orders from Noem–raises a plethora of legal, ethical and political questions.

The move smacks of Noem turning the state’s Guard into a mercenary force, available for assignments to the highest bidder.  Is the Guard the militia of the People of South Dakota, paid for by citizens of not just South Dakota but all of the US?  Or is it a private security firm that can be deployed at the whim of the governor to make a political statement?

And who will be responsible for any injury or fatality of a South Dakota Guardsman who is sent to Texas at the request of a Tennessee billionaire?  Would the member of the Guard be eligible for benefits?  Should the family be granted military survivor benefits for a private foray inspired by political ambition?

More than a century ago, the federal government set up a funding mechanism for the National Guard after citizens voiced concern that the Guard was being used as strikebreakers during work stoppages at mines.  The mining company would frequently send money to political cronies to have the Guard come to a site and break strikers.  The Militia Act of 1903–also known as the Dick Act of 1903–effectively ended this practice by putting Guard funding under federal auspices.

For her part, Noem sees no issue with having a billionaire hire members of the US military.  She can claim that she’s helping protect the US border without spending a taxpayer dime.  She gets national exposure for an expected upcoming presidential run.  And she gets to do all this while courting the support of an important GOP fundraiser.

Others, however, aren’t so sure.  “I don’t have a clue if it’s legal,” said Roger Tellinghuisen, a Republican who served as South Dakota attorney general. “It’s a question in my own mind.”

“There are instances in South Dakota where we have private funding of government activities, but you see it more commonly in construction projections than in operations,” said Neil Fulton, who served as chief of staff to former Gov. Mike Rounds, a Republican, and is now the dean of the University of South Dakota School of Law.

Scholars of South Dakota government operations–and there are apparently at least one of them–say that there’s no mechanism in state law to allow for a private funder to provide money to the state coffers to finance a National Guard deployment.

And there are some who see it as outright illegal.  “It’s basically money laundering, and it’s turning the state National Guard into a mercenary force,” said Rachel VanLandingham, a former Air Force lawyer who is a professor at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles. “She’s using troops there that are a resource and have been paid for by taxpayers that are being used for a political show by a high-powered donor because the governor thought it was a good idea.”