Oregon Governor Sets Up Showdown, Won’t Send National Guard To The Border

President Donald Trump announced yesterday that he is drafting plans to send U.S. National Guard troops to assist U.S. Border Patrol units in the event mass numbers of illegal immigrants threaten to cross the United States’ southern border.

But at least one Democratic governor, Oregon’s Gov. Kate Brown, says that as commander of her state’s National Guard unit, she will resist the president’s order because she doesn’t believe in having a “militarized” border. Brown took to Twitter late Wednesday to set up a showdown with the president.

If @realDonaldTrump asks me to deploy Oregon Guard troops to the Mexico border, I’ll say no. As Commander of Oregon’s Guard, I’m deeply troubled by Trump’s plan to militarize our border.

— Governor Kate Brown (@OregonGovBrown) April 4, 2018

She later acknowledged that the Trump White House had not contacted her to ask her to mobilize Oregon’s troops, and that her declaration was largely preemptive.

She also suggested that Trump’s new-found interest in illegal immigration is not the result of a caravan of migrants moving towards the country’s southern border, demanding sanctuary, but is part of the president’s plan to distract from his “troubles” in Washington.

She was not specific about what “trouble” she was referring to.