A clearly exasperated Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey announced on Tuesday he will once again deploy elements of his National Guard as well as develop strategies with U.S. Border Patrol officials after thousands of migrants illegally crossed from Mexico in recent days.
In comments from Yuma, the GOP governor said the state’s border crisis has been “escalating” in the region while making a desperate appeal to President Joe Biden to bolster a federal response to the situation.
“Mr. President, do something — do anything,” Ducey pleaded at a news conference, according to KPNX-TV/Phoenix.
Ducey was speaking near an open section of barrier separating Arizona and Mexico as he pointed to the as-yet-unfinished border wall that was begun by former President Donald Trump and halted by Biden on his first day in office.
On Twitter, Ducey announced the Guard deployment, adding that its commanders will be “repositioning assets to deploy personnel, trucks, cars and ATVs, a helicopter and more to fill the void in leadership left by President Biden.:
We’re announcing today that @AZNationalGuard is repositioning assets to deploy personnel, trucks, cars and ATVs, a helicopter and more to fill the void in leadership left by President Biden. 1/ pic.twitter.com/Kqbf8AMyyG
— Doug Ducey (@dougducey) December 7, 2021
Ducey, along with many other congressional Republicans and GOP governors, has been blasting Biden and his appointed ‘border czar,’ Vice President Kamala Harris, as well as Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, for what they have described as an underwhelming response all year long to surges of migrants from all over the world that have negatively impacted border states and communities.
Officials who joined Ducey said that an estimated 5,000 migrants tried to illegally cross into the state near Yuma on Sunday, according to KPNX. Another 1,500 tried to cross in Yuma on Monday, Border Report noted.
“There just aren’t enough agents” to handle all of the calls that are flooding into 911 regarding the influx of migrants rushing the border, one agent told the Yuma Sun.
Ducey went to Yuma a day after the Biden administration reinstated Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld an earlier ruling from a U.S. district judge in Texas who ordered the policy to resume after determining that Biden’s executive order ending it violated federal law.
That said, Ducey noted during his press conference that portions of the Remain in Mexico policy were useful enough in Texas to help that state control its border with Mexico that migrants were being shunted to Arizona.
Ducey went on to say that the National Guard would be sending 24 members along with six vehicles, four ATVs, and one light utility helicopter to the region to help control the border, KPNX reported.
The report added that while Ducey was speaking, the news crew spied nearly a dozen migrants trying to illegally cross into Arizona.
We witnessed firsthand today migrants crossing the border into the U.S. This crisis is out of control, and the federal government needs to do more to protect Arizona’s communities. 3/https://t.co/IMniUp8iy8
— Doug Ducey (@DougDucey) December 7, 2021
Fox News added: “Arriving migrants were found to be from nearly 30 countries: Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Georgia, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, India, Lebanon, Mexico, Nepal, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Venezuela.”
Jon has over 30 years' worth of reporting experience, as well as an author and U.S. Army veteran. He has a BA in political science from Ashford University and an MA in national security studies/intelligence analysis from American Military University.
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