Trump’s latest tweet only confuses situation
Gov. Brown spokesman says no changes made in National Guard deployment
After heaping rare praise on California Gov. Jerry Brown for help on border security last week, President Donald Trump sowed doubt over any accord Tuesday by declaring the state “cannot come to terms for the National Guard to patrol and protect the Border.”
But spokesmen for Brown and the California National Guard said nothing had changed on their part since last week, leaving only confusion over how California might collaborate on the Trump administration’s request to deploy National Guard troops along the border with Mexico.
“Looks like Jerry Brown and California are not looking for safety and security along their very porous Border,” Trump said Tuesday on Twitter.
Brown, who was in Washington on Tuesday, downplayed the notion of any new rift on border protection at a National Press Club event.
“There’s been a little bit of back and forth, as you always get with bureaucrats,” Brown said. “But I think we can find common understanding here. There’s enough problems at the border and the interface between our countries that California will have plenty to do -- and we’re willing to do it.”
Lawmakers declined to provide Trump the $25 billion his administration is seeking to build a border wall. The president this month said the National Guard deployment would be needed until a wall — his signature campaign promise — was in place.
The Trump administration has asked states to allow as many as 4,000 National Guard troops to cope with a jump in illegal crossings, after arrests along the Mexico border hit their highest level in 15 months. Individual governors direct their state’s National Guard troops, although the President can federalize the guard and take control in some situations.
Governors in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona — all Republicans like Trump — have been eager to assist. About 900 Guard troops have deployed so far, a National Guard commander said Monday: 650 in Texas, 250 in Arizona and 60 in New Mexico. Texas National Guard members are already doing aerial and ground surveillance. The Arizona National Guard said last week that its troops will provide air and ground support.
And Brown’s predecessor, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, agreed to send guard troops to the border at the requests of former Presidents Barack Obama in 2010 and George W. Bush in 2006.
But Trump’s immigration policies have been deeply unpopular with California’s ruling Democrats, who passed legislation making California the nation’s first “sanctuary state” to limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcers.
Brown, a Democrat who has sparred with Trump on immigration and environmental law, on April 11 sent a letter stating that California would accept federal funding to add about 400 guard personnel to a current staff of 250, 55 of them deployed at the border.
But Brown’s proposal was clear that the new troops would “focus on transnational criminal gangs, human traffickers, and illegal firearm and drug smugglers,” and would “not be used to perform or support any immigration enforcement work.” He argued that would mirror the “targeted assistance” California’s guard gave for presidents Obama and Bush.
Trump on April 12 said on Twitter: “California Governor Jerry Brown is doing the right thing and sending the National Guard to the Border. Thank you Jerry, good move for the safety of our Country!”
But on Monday, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense Integration Robert G. Salesses said that the administration wanted 237 troops for work in San Diego and El Centro that the state “has indicated they will not perform.”
That prompted a followup tweet from Trump on Tuesday:
“Looks like Jerry Brown and California are not looking for safety and security along their very porous Border. He cannot come to terms for the National Guard to patrol and protect the Border. The high crime rate will only get higher. Much wanted Wall in San Diego already started!”
But Brown spokesman Brian Ferguson told this newspaper that there have been no new “rejections,” “signals” or “changes in direction by California since the letter and proposed cooperation agreement were sent to the feds for consideration last week.’’ Ferguson said, “The next step is still for the federal government to sign the agreement so Guard personnel can get to work.’’
Salesses, the Pentagon official, said the Border Patrol had asked California to send 237 troops to the agency’s San Diego and El Centro sectors, but state officials panned the request.
A California National Guard commander, Lt. Col. Tom Keegan, disputed that characterization, and said in a statement Monday that “state officials have not rejected anything.”
Keegan said Homeland Security officials and the Department of Defense have “not yet responded” to California’s offer for a memorandum outlining the mission’s scope.
“We’re refining our requirements,” Ronald Vitiello, U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s acting deputy commissioner, said. “It will be an iterative process.”