(The Center Square)– Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs is sending National Guard troops to the southern border.
Hobbs issued an Executive Order on Friday to send troops to assist authorities at Lukeville and San Miguel. The Lukeville Port of Entry closed on Dec. 4 as U.S. Customs and Border Protection said they did not have the resources to keep it open while also handling the migrant surge in the area.
“Yet again, the federal government is refusing to do its job to secure our border and keep our communities safe,” Hobbs said in a statement Friday.
“With this Executive Order, I am taking action where the federal government won’t. But we can’t stand alone, 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,” the Democrat added.
Hobbs hinted at the decision last Friday with the launch of Operation SECURE, which would make use of the National Guard if the Biden administration did not comply with their request to reopen the port of entry promptly.
In the order, she mentions her request for the Biden administration to reassign the 243 federal active duty National Guard troops already in the Tucson Sector, and some of the 2,000 members at the border in general, to assist– but the administration did not do so.
The governor met with Sonora, Mexico, Governor Alfonso Durazo on Friday to discuss how to cooperate on the crisis and visited the border on Saturday.
When the Lukeville Port of Entry first closed, she said that authorities were not asking for additional assistance at the time.
“We’re absolutely looking at that as an option, but it’s not something that would be helpful right now, and it’s not something that law enforcement are asking for,” she said, The Center Square reported Dec. 6.
There were a staggering 18,900 apprehensions in the Tucson Sector last week, but the sector’s chief patrol agent has yet to post this week’s updated numbers.
