Ducey dines with Trump to talk border security

Gov. Doug Ducey dined at the White House on Monday evening, joining other governors for a discussion of border security with President Donald Trump.

Video of a portion of the dinner, broadcast on the Fox News Network, showed Trump at the head of a table in the Blue Room with Ducey seated to the president’s right.

Trump introduced Ducey and four other governors. All are Republicans.

They were Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, Gov. Phil Bryant of Mississippi, Gov. Henry McMaster of South Carolina and Gov. Susana Martinez of New Mexico.

Of the five, only Ducey and Martinez govern states that share a border with Mexico.

Trump said the group, which also included Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen would be discussing the crime and drugs “pouring across our border.”

Trump said that border crossings were “down over 40 percent” despite what he said were the nation’s weak immigration laws. It was not immediately clear what time frame he was referring to.

Last month, Trump called out the National Guard from Arizona and other border states to boost border security.

“We’ve been able to do what I think nobody else has been able to do,” he said.

On Monday afternoon, a post on Ducey’s Twitter feed showed a photo of him and Martinez meeting with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. The post said the governors were discussing security on the border with Mexico.

In April, Ducey endorsed a plan from Trump to deploy National Guard troops to the border.

The action came after Trump, in a series of posts on Twitter, expressed alarm about a caravan of migrants from Central America who made a planned protest march to the United States border to apply for asylum.