New Mexico Governor Pulls National Guard Troops from Border
Morgan Lee, Associated Press, February 5, 2019
The governor of New Mexico ordered the withdrawal of the majority of the state’s National Guard troops from the U.S. border with Mexico on Tuesday, in a move that challenges President Trump’s description of a security crisis.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced the partial withdrawal shortly before Trump’s State of the Union address. Her Republican predecessor deployed National Guard troops to the border in April 2018 at Trump’s suggestion, and 118 remained there before Tuesday’s reversal.
“New Mexico will not take part in the president’s charade of border fear-mongering by misusing our diligent National Guard troops,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement.
At the same time, the governor said a small contingent — around a dozen guardsmen — will remain in the southwestern corner of the state to assist with humanitarian needs in a remote corridor for cross-border immigration. She also mobilized state police to assist local law enforcement.
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At remote stretches of New Mexico’s border with Mexico, large numbers of Central American migrants have surrendered in recent months to U.S. authorities. The perils of the state’s desert borderlands have been highlighted with the deaths of Guatemalan immigrant children Felipe Gomez Alonzo and Jakelin Caal while in U.S. custody in New Mexico.
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The Pentagon announced Sunday it would send 3,750 more troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to put up barbed wire and provide support for Customs and Border Protection, increasing the total number to 4,350.
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On Tuesday, she also directed 25 troops from other states — Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Wisconsin — to withdraw from the New Mexico border.
