Democrat Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs issued an executive order to send National Guard members to the southern border.
After a reported surge of migrants at the Lukeville Port of Entry, Hobbs ordered members of the National Guard to southern Arizona to assist law enforcement agencies.
Hobbs blamed the Biden administration for refusing to send resources to secure the United States border.
“With this Executive Order, I am taking action where the federal government won’t,” Hobbs said in a statement.
“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,” she continued.
Azcentral reports:
Some details, including how many National Guard members would be sent on the southern border mission, were not available. Hobbs’ order says that is up to the decision of Adjutant General Kerry Muehlenbeck, the top Guard official in Arizona and head of the state Department of Emergency and Military Affairs.
Hobbs’ administration has previously acknowledged that National Guard members cannot, without orders from the federal government, staff the shuttered Lukeville Port of Entry.
The Biden administration’s decision to close that port earlier this month, citing the need for Customs and Border Protection staffers elsewhere, has halted daily crossings and shuttered a key route to Puerto Peñasco in Mexico. Residents in the town also known as Rocky Point have described a “ghost town” atmosphere as a result that is harming the tourism economy.
National Guard troops will be sent to several locations, including near the Lukeville and San Miguel crossings, to help the Arizona Department of Public Safety and local police agencies with enforcement. That will include fentanyl interdiction, analytical support and enforcement targeting human trafficking, according to Hobbs’ office.
Read the executive order:
FOX 10 Phoenix aired this video report:
The executive order follows Hobbs launching Operation SECURE (Safety, Enforcement, Coordination, & Uniform Response) to “mobilize additional state resources to bring order and security to the border.”
Katie Hobbs said in a press release last week:
Operation SECURE will create a new Border Security Office within the Department of Homeland Security. The office, funded for the year with $2 million from ARPA, will serve as a hub of coordination for border security operations to ensure local, state, and federal assets are being properly leveraged to keep Arizonans safe and maintain a secure, humane, and orderly border. In addition, unless the Biden Administration promptly reopens the port of entry, the operation will mobilize up to $5 million for the National Guard to augment and support the Department of Public Safety and local law enforcement agencies along the southern border, including fentanyl interdiction efforts.
The Governor has written a letter to President Biden urging that the 243 National Guard members already in the Tucson Sector be put to use to support reopening the Lukeville Point of Entry.
Additionally, the Governor billed the federal government for $512,529,333 in reimbursements for ongoing border operations resulting from the federal government’s failure to secure the Arizona border. Moving forward, the state will regularly seek reimbursement from the federal government.
