Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey declared a state of emergency on Arizona’s southwestern border and said the state would deploy 250 National Guard troops to help local law enforcement.
“The US border patrol is overwhelmed. Local law enforcement and mayors are calling for help, “the Republican said Tuesday in a recorded statement.” Citizens and our border communities are concerned about their safety and the nonprofits left behind to collect the pieces of broken federal policies are tense “
Arizona is the first state to declare an emergency related to this year’s rapid increase in arrests of people crossing the border illegally. Border Patrol agents made about 168,000 arrests at the border in March, compared to about 71,000 in December.
The governor said the state will allocate $ 25 million to fund the National Guard mission. He did not say how long the deployment would take.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey
Photo:
Meg Potter / The Arizona Republic / Reuters
Texas deployed up to 500 National Guard troops last month as part of a broader increase in law enforcement at the border, but the governor did not declare a state of emergency.
Former President Donald Trump’s order ordered thousands of federal troops and National Guard troops to the border at the start of the latest increase in illegal immigration in 2018. He later declared an emergency national border. The troops have remained at the frontier under Mr. Biden.
National Guard troops were also previously deployed at the border during the administrations of Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush.
Arizona troops will not conduct law enforcement operations, as has been the case during previous deployments. Instead, troops will assist with medical operations within detention centers and the installation, maintenance and control of a network of state-operated border cameras, Ducey said.
Ducey blamed the most recent increase in illegal border cruises on the Biden administration’s immigration policies.
“The numbers don’t lie, this drastic wave is the direct result of the bad policy that came out of Washington, DC, and yet we still haven’t received a proper response from the Biden administration,” Ducey said.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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