Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs announced she is sending the National Guard to a pair of remote areas along her state’s border with Mexico to deal with a surge in illegal migration. File Photo by Caroline Brehman/EPA-EFE
Dec. 16 (UPI) — Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs has ordered National Guard troops to a remote area along the U.S. state’s border with Mexico is help local authorities cope with a surge in illegal migrant crossings.
Hobbs, a Democrat, said in a statement issued Friday that with the executive order, she is “taking action where the federal government won’t” in dealing with the situation at and around the now-shuttered Lukeville Port of Entry in the Sonoran Desert.
The administration of President Joe Biden closed the Lukeville entry point earlier this month because of a surge in migrants elsewhere attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border.
The move brought strong condemnations from Hobbs and Arizona’s two U.S. senators, Mark Kelly, a Democrat, and independent Kyrsten Sinema, who have cited the negative economic impact on the state of closing a legal point of entry.
In response, Hobbs last week announced the launch of Operation SECURE, a $2 million state initiative meant to coordinate border security operations among local officials.
On Friday, she said Arizona “needs resources and manpower to reopen the Lukeville crossing, manage the flow of migrants, and maintain a secure, orderly and humane border.
“Despite continued requests for assistance, the Biden administration has refused to deliver desperately needed resources to Arizona’s border,” she said.
The governor did not specify the number of National Guard members to be deployed but revealed they will be stationed at “multiple locations along the southern border,” including near both the Lukeville Port of Entry and the San Miguel crossing.
Governors are faced with limited options in their efforts to police international border since immigration policy and enforcement is the sole responsibility of the federal government.
Some of Hobbs’ fellow Arizona Democrats supported deploying the National Guard, including U.S. Rep. Greg Stanton.
“This is the right call — but Arizonans can’t keep making up for the federal government’s failures,” he said in a post on X. “It’s past time for Congress to get federal law enforcement the resources they need to secure our border.”
However, others, such as U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, were opposed.
“I do not support Governor Hobbs’ decision to send the Arizona National Guard to the border as a result of the void left by the inaction of the Republicans in Congress and the Biden administration,” he said in a statement issued to KYMA-TV.
But, he added, “I do appreciate that Governor Hobbs has rejected the brutal and cruel tactics of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Texas Governor Greg Abbott who have taken advantage of this crisis to inhumanely and illegally use migrants as political pawns and to politicize and pander instead of working on real solutions.”
