The Republican governors of three of the four states bordering Mexico said they are on board with President Trump’s plan to mobilize National Guard troops, but California’s Jerry Brown, a Democrat, said his state is still waiting for details.
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who has been coordinating with the statehouses over the deployment of the troops, declined to comment on what would happen if Brown declined.
“We’ll be speaking with the governor again today,” Nielsen told Fox News on Thursday. “[Brown] has supported … use in support of the border in the past. I’d like to have further conversations with him before I jump ahead of him in how he would like to secure his border.”
The governors of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas all said they welcomed using the troops to secure the border after Trump signed the order late Wednesday.
But California, which has pushed back against Trump’s immigration policies, is taking a wait-and-see approach.
“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 Lt. Col. Tom Keegan said in a statement, adding he is speaking on behalf of the Brown administration. “We look forward to more detail, including funding, duration and end state.”
Making their case for enhanced enforcement, Customs and Border Protection released figures Thursday showing that illegal crossings increased 203 percent from March 2017 to last month.
The number increased 37 percent from February to March — the largest month-to-month increase since 2011.
In 2014, after Texas used National Guard troops to crack down on young immigrants crossing the border, Brown refused, suggesting instead that the state build more shelters to house the “young refugees.”
Earlier Thursday, Trump congratulated himself and the Mexican government for halting a “caravan” of migrants from Central America making their way through Mexico to the US border.
”The Caravan is largely broken up thanks to the strong immigration laws of Mexico and their willingness to use them so as not to cause a giant scene at our Border,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Because of the Trump Administrations actions, Border crossings are at a still UNACCEPTABLE 46 year low. Stop drugs!”
The group of more than 1,000 migrants, mainly from Honduras, started breaking apart Wednesday after days of walking as participants stopped for food and shelter in southern Mexico.
Leaders of the organization behind the caravan, People Without Borders, said the procession would end in Mexico City rather than attempt to reach the border.
“It’s not because of Donald Trump,” Irineo Mujica, director of the advocacy group, told Reuters on Wednesday.
Trump has been railing about the caravan since Sunday after “Fox and Friends” highlighted the march in a segment.
Trump also pressured Mexico to use its immigration laws to end the stream of migrants by threatening to “stop their cash flow” by dismantling the North American Free Trade Agreement, which is under negotiation.
The president blamed Democrats for not doing enough to shore up security along the border and urged Congress to fund building a wall.
