Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he would not participate in the manufactured border crisis and, therefore, pull more than two-thirds of California’s National Guard Troops. While he will reassign more than 360 National Guard members deployed to the border to other duties in the state, 100 plus members will remain at the border as part of a drug trafficking task force.
“This whole border issue is a manufactured crisis. We are not interested in participating in this political theater,” Newsom said at a press conference.
The border ‘emergency’ is nothing more than a manufactured crisis — and CA’s National Guard will not be part of this political theater. https://t.co/cKbht1mtOe
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) February 11, 2019
Gov. Newsom, who signed the order on Monday, will clarify the redeployment of troops during his State of the State address tonight, with a promise to “offer an alternative to the corruption and incompetence in the White House.”
Former California governor, Jerry Brown, agreed to the deployment of 400 National Guard troops back in April at the Trump administration’s request. But Brown stressed the agreement was to “support efforts to go after criminal gangs, human traffickers and drug smugglers” and “would not be used to enforce federal immigration policies,” The New York Times reported.
“It will not be a mission to round up women and children or detain people escaping violence and seeking a better life,” Mr. Brown wrote, adding, “There is no massive wave of migrants pouring into California. Overall immigrant apprehensions on the border last year were as low as they’ve been in nearly 50 years.”
New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, a democrat, also ordered the removal of most of the National Guard troops deployed at her state’s border after her Republican predecessor granted the Trump administration’s request last year, Reuters reported.
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