With some trash-talking aimed at the Biden administration, Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs on Friday said she would send the National Guard to the state’s border with Mexico.
The move was announced in a news release noting that it came one week after Hobbs sent a letter to President Joe Biden asking him to “reassign the Arizona National Guard to re-open the Lukeville Port of Entry.”
The port of entry was closed amid a flood of illegal immigrants crossing the border, according to KNXZ-TV.
The release said National Guard members will “assist the Department of Public Safety and local law enforcement agencies with enforcement activities, including fentanyl interdiction, analytical support, and human trafficking enforcement efforts.”
Hobbs’ mobilization of the National Guard represents a definite toughening of her stance on border security.
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Not long after winning election as governor in 2022, she said she wanted nothing to do with former Gov. Doug Ducey’s improvised border barrier made of shipping containers, according to KJZZ-FM.
“It’s a political stunt. It’s a visual barrier that is not actually providing an effective barrier to entry, and I think a waste of taxpayer dollars,” she said then.
Now, Hobbs says she has to act because Washington will not.
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“Yet again, the federal government is refusing to do its job to secure our border and keep our communities safe,” she said in a statement. “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.”
From our photographer still on the ground in Lukeville, AZ…another mass crossing through breach in the border wall after AZ Governor Hobbs left. pic.twitter.com/wtGEW5RxN0
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) December 10, 2023
The order issued by Hobbs began by saying, “For far too long, Arizona has borne the burden of federal inaction in managing the State’s southern border.”
The news release also noted that the Biden administration has not responded to Arizona’s request to be reimbursed for what it has spent on border security.
It was not announced how many National Guard members would be sent to the border, but Hobbs said she had asked Biden for 250, according to KNXZ.
Ducey sent the National Guard to the border in April 2021, The Arizona Republic reported. That mission ended in September.
During a recent visit to the border, Hobbs vented her frustration with the Biden administration.
“For far too long, Arizona has borne the brunt of federal inaction on our southern border, and I am tired of it. Now is not the time for partisan politics; it is time for action,” she said.
