Arizona Governor Doug Ducey declared a state of emergency on Arizona’s southwest border and said the state would deploy 250 National Guard troops to assist local law enforcement.
“The US Border Patrol is overwhelmed. Local law enforcement officers and mayors are calling for help, ”the Republican said in a taped statement on Tuesday. “Citizens and our border communities are concerned about their security, and nonprofits, who have to pick up the pieces of broken federal policy, are on edge.”
Arizona is the first state to declare an emergency in connection with the rapid increase in the number of arrests of people crossing the border illegally this year. Border Patrol agents made about 168,000 arrests at the border in March, compared to about 71,000 in December.
The governor said the state would allocate $ 25 million to fund the National Guard’s mission. He did not say how long the deployment would last.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona
Photo:
Meg Potter / The Arizona Republic / Reuters
Texas deployed up to 500 National Guard troops last month as part of a broader wave of border law enforcement, but the governor did not declare a state of emergency.
President Donald Trump’s former order ordered thousands of federal and national guard troops to the border at the start of the latest wave of illegal immigration in 2018. He later declared a national emergency at the border. Troops have remained on the border under Mr Biden.
Also during the reigns of Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, National Guard troops were previously dispatched to the border.
The Arizona forces will not conduct law enforcement operations, as has been the case during previous deployments. Instead, the troops will assist with medical operations in detention centers and install, maintain and monitor a state-run border camera network, Mr Ducey said.
Mr Ducey blamed the most recent increase in illegal border crossings on the immigration policies of the Biden government.
“The numbers don’t lie, this dramatic increase is a direct result of the bad policies coming out of Washington, DC, and yet we still have not received an adequate response from the Biden administration,” said Mr. Ducey.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Write to Alicia A. Caldwell at [email protected]
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