Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has declared a state of emergency on the southwestern border in Arizona, saying the state will deploy 250 national troops to help local law enforcement.
“The U.S. Border Patrol is overwhelmed. “Local law enforcers and mayors are asking for help,” the Republican said in a recorded statement on Tuesday. “Citizens and our border communities are concerned about their security and non-profit organizations, which are left to pick up the pieces of the broken federal policy, are tense.”
Arizona is the first state to declare an emergency related to the rapid increase in arrests of people crossing the border illegally. 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 mission. He did not say how long the deployment would take.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Doug Ducey, Governor of Arizona
Photo:
Meg Potter / The Arizona Republic / Reuters
Texas deployed up to 500 National Guard troops last month as part of a broader push of law enforcement at the border, but the governor did not declare a state of emergency.
Former President Donald Trump ordered thousands of federal troops and national guard troops to the border at the start of the last wave of illegal immigration in 2018. He later declared a national emergency at the border. Troops marched at the border under Mr. Bidden remained.
National guard troops have also previously been deployed to the border during the administrations of Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush.
The Arizona troops will not do law enforcement, as was the case during previous deployments. Instead, the troops will assist with medical operations in detention centers, and the installation, maintenance and monitoring of a state-run border camera network, Mr. Ducey said.
Mr. Ducey blames the Biden administration’s immigration policy for the most recent increase in illegal border crossings.
“The numbers are not lying, this drastic upswing is a direct result of the bad policies that have come out of Washington, DC, and yet we still have not received adequate response from the Biden government,” he said. Ducey said.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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