Arizona to send 150 National Guard troops to Mexico border
Apr 6, 2018, 2:53 PM
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, file)
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, file)
PHOENIX — Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey tweeted Friday that he would be sending 150 National Guard troops to the Mexican border as part of a proclamation from President Donald Trump.
The tweet said the troops should be in place next week.
Trump said this week that he would wanted the National Guard to secure the border until his oft-promised wall could be built.
The president said in a memorandum to his secretaries of defense and homeland security and to his attorney general that the “situation at the border has now reached a point of crisis.”
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Trump said that “lawlessness” at the southern border is “fundamentally incompatible with the safety, security, and sovereignty of the American people” and that his administration “has no choice but to act.”
Ducey welcomed the plan, saying “Washington has ignored this issue for too long and help is needed. For Arizona, it’s all about public safety.”
The duties of those troops were unclear. However, the head of the Border Patrol agents union said he would expect them to serve in a surveillance role.
“We expect the military, or the National Guard, to be our eyes,” Brandon Judd told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Bruce St. James and Pamela Hughes.
“They would allow us to put more resources in the field as opposed to having our agents in the control room watching cameras, monitoring sensors, sitting in skyboxes and other surveillance positions.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
