Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Trump invokes law to deploy Guard
SALEM, Ore. — President Donald Trump’s plan to deploy National Guard troops to the border with Mexico has drawn resistance from some governors, most of them Democrats, and the law he invoked creates an opening for them to turn him down, officials said Friday.
But so far, three of the border states with Republican governors have endorsed the plan, and two, Arizona and Texas, quickly announced troop deployments. The Democratic governor of the fourth border state, California, has been silent on the issue.
Trump’s order invoked a federal law called Title 32, under which governors retain command and control of Guard members from their state, with the federal government paying for the deployment.
Another statute, known as Title 10, establishes that National Guard personnel operate under the president’s control and receive federal pay and benefits. The law also forbids them from performing tasks of civilian law enforcement unless explicitly authorized, according to the Congressional Research Service. Trump’s order issued Wednesday did not mention Title 10.
Arizona’s Republican Gov. Doug Ducey said about 150 Guard members will deploy next week. The GOP governors of New Mexico and Texas also back the plan. The Texas Army National Guard said it plans to deploy 250 people to the border within three days. Two helicopters lifted off Friday night from Austin, the state capital, to head south.
Defense Secretary James Mattis on Friday night approved paying for up to 4,000 National Guard personnel from the Pentagon budget through the end of September. A Defense Department memo says the National Guard personnel will not perform law enforcement functions or “interact with migrants or other persons detained” without Mattis’ approval. It said “arming will be limited to circumstances that might require self-defense,” but it did not further define that.
Trump said Thursday that he wants to send 2,000 to 4,000 Guard members to the border to help federal officials fight illegal immigration and drug trafficking. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said on Twitter that she had a “productive conversation” about the deployment with governors of the Southwest border states.
It’s unclear if Trump will ask for troops from states other than those along the border.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders described the deployment as “a good first step.” If the administration determines that more troops are needed, “we’ll make that decision at that time.”
Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, a Republican, on Friday became one of the latest leaders to oppose the plan. His spokesman, Mary-Sarah Kinner, said in an email that Sandoval does not believe the mission would be “an appropriate use” of the Nevada Guard.
But North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, also a Republican, said that if he’s asked, he will contribute.
“We will answer the call,” Burgum said. “From historic floods to more recent events, we North Dakotans know from experience how critical it is for states to support each other in times of need.”
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has said she would deny Trump’s request. But her spokesman, Bryan Hockaday, said that if Trump invoked Title 10, the president “can federalize the National Guard forces, and there’s not much the governor can do to prevent that.”
While California Gov. Jerry Brown has not spoken publicly about Trump’s plan, California National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Tom Keegan said any request “will be promptly reviewed to determine how best we can assist our federal partners.”
Gov. Asa Hutchinson said this week that he had offered
the support of the Arkansas National Guard.
Trump “needs the cooperation of the governors to do this because he could federalize them and he chooses not to do that,” Hutchinson said, noting that Arkansas had contributed Guard members in a similar mission in 2006.
Almost every U.S. state and territory contributed Guard members to Operation Jump Start, announced by President George W. Bush in 2006. Around 30,000 Guard members eventually participated, according to a 2008 National Guard analysis, including more than 1,000 each from Kentucky, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
During Operation Phalanx, ordered by President Barack Obama in 2010, 1,200 Guard members deployed to the border, most of them from Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas.
Information for this article was contributed by Doug Glass, Nomaan Merchant, Jonathan Cooper, Paul J. Weber, Bob Christie and Susan Montoya of The Associated Press and by Michael R. Wickline of the