On Monday, California rejected the Trump administration’s plans for National Guard troops on the Southern border because the assignment is viewed as too closely tied to immigration enforcement.
California Governor Jerry Brown had earned rare praise from President Donald Trump last week when he announced that the state would send 400 troops with the National Guard, but now that appears to have changed. The Associated Press reports:
The state informed federal officials it will not allow its troops to fix and repair vehicles, operate remotely-controlled surveillance cameras to report suspicious activity to the Border Patrol, operate radios and provide “mission support,” which can include clerical work, buying gas and handling payroll, according to officials with knowledge of the talks who spoke condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.
Governors from the rest of the border states — Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas — have all openly welcomed the Trump administration’s plans for using National Guard personnel on the Southern border to help secure it until the border wall is built.
AP added, “California National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Thomas Keegan said Monday that the state was awaiting a formal response from the administration and had no additional details beyond the governor’s proposed agreement released last week that includes a ban on immigration enforcement.”