Wall Street Journal
By Alicia A. Caldwell and Laura Meckler
April 16, 2018
California officials rejected President Donald Trump’s request for National Guard troops to help secure the U.S. border with Mexico, federal officials said Monday.
Robert G. Salesses, a Defense Department official working on the deployment plan, said California officials turned down a Border Patrol request for about 237 troops to help with tasks such as operational support, vehicle maintenance, radio communications, planning, clerical work and manning surveillance cameras.
California officials said Monday they have not rejected the administration’s request, but won’t commit troops until its deployment terms are agreed to.
Last week California Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, said he would send 400 state troops to join the effort but that their work would be limited to combating “transnational crime,” as state guard troops have done in the past. Mr. Brown said he wouldn’t allow troops to help build a barrier at the border or enforce federal immigration laws or support immigration enforcement. He sent the government an agreement detailing those limitations.
California and federal officials both said they are continuing to consider options for a future deployment at the border.
Mr. Trump said earlier this month he would send 2,000 to 4,000 National Guard troops to the nearly 2,000-mile border with Mexico. Troops in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona have been mobilized.
Lt. Col. Tom Keegan, a California National Guard spokesman, said state officials sent the federal government proposed terms that would govern the deployment of its troops but federal authorities haven’t yet responded.
“The next step is for the federal government to respond by signing the memorandum of agreement,” Lt. Col. Keegan said.
A Homeland Security official said Monday that such agreements haven’t been signed with governors in Arizona, New Mexico or Texas and aren’t necessary for the troop deployments.
Ronald Vitiello, acting deputy commissioner for Customs and Border Protection, said his agency would next propose that California troops be used to augment the agency’s air and marine division and help with work at the ports of entry.
Mr. Vitiello said troops being sent to the border in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas will also be asked to help with administrative tasks, vehicle maintenance and other nonenforcement jobs. Troops deployed to the border under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama handled similar duties.
Republican governors in those three states have been supportive of the deployment. So far Arizona is sending about 250 troops, more than 60 will be sent from New Mexico and Texas has pledged 650 troops.
Mr. Vitiello said the guard troops would be deployed until the Border Patrol has “operational control” of the border with Mexico, but he didn’t offer any metrics for determining when that standard is reached. Officials haven’t said how long troops will remain on the border.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
No comments:
Post a Comment