Arizona’s Democratic Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly both support the governor’s decision to deploy the National Guard at the southern border in response to the surge in migrants that has overwhelmed authorities.
“I welcome the Governor’s move to provide logistical support to the Arizona communities and look forward to more details on how the National Guard will help,” Sinema said in a statement. “I will continue to work closely with Arizona leaders and organizations to support our border communities, secure the border, prevent the spread of COVID-19, and treat all migrants and unaccompanied children fairly and humanely.”
ARIZONA GOV. DUCEY IMPLEMENTS NATIONAL GUARD AT THE SOUTH BORDER DURING MIGRANT CRISIS
Republican Governor Doug Ducey announced on Tuesday that he is deploying the state’s national guard to the border and issuing an emergency declaration in response to the growing migrant crisis.
“It’s just as bad, if not worse, than the coverage we’ve seen,” Ducey said in a statement. The US border patrol is overwhelmed, local law enforcement and mayors are calling for help. Citizens in our border communities are concerned about their safety, and the nonprofits left to pick up the pieces of broken federal policy are tense. “
The guard will be involved in installing and maintaining border cameras, collecting data, analyzing images for trends at border crossings and assisting with operations in detention centers, Ducey’s office said.
Ducey had indicated for weeks that he was considering deploying the Guard and had asked for federal reimbursement.
ARIZONA AG BRNOVICH CALLS ON THE EMERGENCY STATE TO RESPOND TO BORDER CRISIS
On Tuesday, Ducey noted that the White House was going back to President Biden’s original description of the situation as a “ crisis. ” The White House later said he was referring to what’s going on in Central America.
Ducey was also critical of what he described as “inactivity” by the White House and a lack of planning – saying it was forcing Arizona to act on its own.
“[I]It doesn’t look like this government will do anything anytime soon, and we won’t be waiting any longer, ”Ducey said.
Senator Kelly supported the move to deploy the guard, describing the situation at the border as a crisis in particular.
“There is a crisis at the border and I have urged the administration to provide the additional resources, personnel, transportation and testing necessary to provide a safe, orderly process that does not fall on the Arizona communities,” said Kelly. .
“When visiting the Yuma sector and speaking to Border Patrol and other local leaders, it is clear that their resources and staff are overloaded,” he said. “There are important missions that the Arizona National Guard can conduct on the border, and the governor calling them will provide assistance to both local law enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security.”
Both senators later wrote to President Biden urging him to compensate Arizona for the deployment of the National Guard.
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“We know that the National Guard can provide important assistance at the border and we note that about 500 Guardsmen have already been deployed in the Yuma and Tucson sectors,” the Democrats wrote in a letter. “As such, we request that you repay the State of Arizona for the commitment the Governor announced yesterday to support border security and continue to expand the DHS staff who can further assist in the processing of migrants, border and carry out important security missions “
Officials met more than 172,000 migrants at the border, including a record number of unaccompanied children – a wave that overwhelmed authorities and led the Biden government to open a number of new facilities to accommodate migrants.