Trump calls for National Guard deployment
California Gov. Brown says he is unwilling to commit troops without more info
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced a plan Wednesday to deploy National Guard troops along the southwestern border, hoping to make good on a promise the president made a day earlier that caught many in the military by surprise.
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said that troops would be deployed “immediately” and that she had already spoken to four governors whose states share the border. But by day’s end, none of the four had publicly committed to deploy a specific number of guard units.
At least one, California Gov. Jerry Brown, heard from Nielsen about the issue for the first time on Wednesday, according to a spokesman. Without key details — including the number of troops, the duration of their deployment and the cost — the Democratic governor was unwilling to commit to the effort, his spokesman said.
The administration’s request “will be promptly reviewed to determine how best we can assist our federal partners,” California National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Tom Keegan said in a statement.
Administration officials who described their plans to reporters were insistently vague about the number of Guard personnel who might be sent to the border. And while they offered a detailed account of what they see as the main current problem there — a rising number of Central American refugees making claims for asylum — they left unclear what troops could do about it.
“The president is frustrated” over continued illegal immigration, Nielsen said, adding, “He has been very clear that he wants to secure our border.”
Trump signed a proclamation Wednesday night to allow the deployment, but the decisions have to be made in conjunction with the governors of the four border states, Nielsen said.
The moves came a day after Trump surprised the military and some of his own staff with talk of deploying troops to guard the border.
“Until we can have a wall and proper security, we’re going to be guarding our border with the military. That’s a big step,” Trump said at a White House ceremony Tuesday.
Later that day, White House officials said that what Trump was actually referring to was deployment of National Guard units, much as President George W. Bush did in 2006 and President Barack Obama did in 2010.
National Guard personnel would not be allowed to arrest people crossing the border — something barred by federal law — but could provide support to the Border Patrol. In previous deployments, Guard troops have been used to help build roads, keep watch for illegal crossings and scout smuggling routes.
Trump’s call to bring in the military mirrored other recent policy and personnel announcements that have forced advisers to scramble. It came after several days in which the president stewed over the lack of congressional funding to build his promised border wall and suffered criticism from some of his nationalist allies for failure to win more money for the project.
In briefing reporters, Nielsen said the administration had recently seen an uptick in illegal border crossings after a steep decline last year. The numbers are not definitive, and monthly figures often fluctuate. But officials appear concerned that illegal crossings could mount quickly
in the spring, the season when they typically peak.
Smuggling gangs “paused” after Trump took office, but “these illicit smuggling groups saw that our ability to actually remove those who come here illegally did not keep pace. They saw that there were loopholes they could exploit to avoid detention and removal,” she said.
But Nielsen left unclear what the National Guard would be able to do to help that situation, which she blamed primarily on people who claim a “credible fear” of persecution in their home countries and ask for asylum in the U.S. In many such cases, asylum seekers cross the border, surrender to the Border Patrol and ask for refuge in the U.S.
Under U.S. law, people who have an asylum claim must be given a hearing, and in many cases are released until their court date. Families with minor children cannot be held in detention for more than 20 days under certain circumstances.
The government could keep a larger number in detention, but that would be extremely expensive. The daily detention cost is about $164 per person. Immigration officials are authorized to hold up to 34,000 people at one time, bringing the federal government’s annual budget for immigration detention to about $2 billion.