EL PASO — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham ordered the state’s National Guard to withdraw most of its troops assigned to the southern border Tuesday night, rejecting the contention that “an overwhelming national security crisis” exists.
Lujan Grisham, a Democrat who took office last month after serving six years in Congress, made the announcement shortly before President Trump’s State of the Union address, which was expected to focus heavily on border security. She said she would keep some New Mexico Guardsmen in the southwest corner of the state, which has seen a huge influx of Central American families in recent months.
“I reject the federal contention that there exists an overwhelming national security crisis at the southern border, along which are some of the safest communities in the country,” Lujan Grisham said, adding that “New Mexico will not take part in the president’s charade of border fearmongering by misusing our diligent National Guard troops.”
In addition to pulling her own National Guard forces back from the border, Lujan Grisham also asked that Guardsmen assigned to New Mexico from Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Wisconsin leave immediately. A statement said 118 total National Guardsmen are deployed in New Mexico as part of a border mission ordered last April by Trump.
A spokeswoman for the governor said 11 to 15 Guardsmen would remain in the southwest part of the state, which has become a popular destination in recent months for smugglers bringing large groups of migrant families to the border. More than 300 people have crossed at a time at the remote crossing in Antelope Wells, N.M., immediately surrendering to Border Patrol agents.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials last week credited a New Mexico National Guard helicopter crew for helping to seize about 136 pounds of marijuana, leading to the arrest of four men allegedly smuggling the drugs across the border in a remote area of southwest New Mexico.
Former New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, a Republican, ordered about 80 Guardsmen to the border in April 2018 in response to Trump’s decision to deploy the Guard to the border. Several governors sent units from their states.
Lujan Grisham, then the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, called on Martinez to cancel the deployment in June as the Trump administration ramped up its “zero tolerance” border enforcement policy that separated thousands of children from their parents. Five other governors — including Republicans in Massachusetts and Maryland — canceled their Guard missions to protest family separations, but the New Mexico Guard continued its deployment.
Martinez was barred by the state Constitution from seeking a third term as governor last year. Lujan Grisham defeated Republican Steve Pearce.
This story was originally published by Washington Post
via USAHint.com
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