California on goslow over use of National Guard
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump needs states’ consent to execute his plan to secure the border with Mexico with National Guard troops.
While leaders from two of those border states promptly embraced Trump’s proposal yesterday, California was less enthusiastic.
‘‘This request — as with others we’ve received from the Department of Homeland Security, including those for additional staffing in 2006 and 2010 — will be promptly reviewed to determine how best we can assist our federal partners,’’ California National Guard spokesman Ltcol Tom Keegan said in a statement issued on behalf of Governor Jerry Brown’s administration. ‘‘We look forward to more detail, including funding, duration and end state.’’
The White House has yet to provide many specifics on the plan, which Trump first floated during a news conference with the presidents of three Baltic nations on Wednesday. Yesterday afternoon, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen briefed the media on the proposal to deploy the National Guard to the border, which she argued was necessary to prevent ‘‘unacceptable levels of illegal drugs, dangerous gang activity, transnational criminal organisations and illegal immigration’’ from flowing across the country’s southern border.
In a statement released on Wednesday evening, the White House said the deployment was needed ‘‘to give our Border Patrol agents the support they deserve’’ and the National Guard troops would ‘‘remain in a support role until Congress takes the action necessary to close the loopholes undermining our border security efforts.’’
Border apprehensions and crossings dropped in 2017, and while the number of unaccompanied minors crossing the southern border had increased in recent months, data from United States Customs and Border Protection showed family apprehensions were down virtually across the board. — McClatchy Washington Bureau/ TCA