Arizona’s two Democratic senators are backing Republican Gov. Doug Ducey’s decision to send National Guard troops to the border and say President Biden and the federal government should pick up the tab.
On Tuesday, Mr. Ducey announced that he would deploy up to 250 additional Arizona National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to assist local law enforcement deal with the flood of illegal immigrants whose numbers have surged since Mr. Biden’s inauguration. It would be in addition to about 500 Guard personnel already deployed to the Tucson and Yuma regions.
“Additional personnel are needed at the border to ensure our communities are protected and migrants are treated fairly,” Democratic Sens. Krysten Sinema and Mark Kelly said in a letter Tuesday to the White House. “This need for a secure and orderly process at the U.S. southern border should not fall on the state of Arizona or Arizona border communities.”
The senators, who called the situation along the border “a crisis,” said they also asked for additional help from Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.
“We request you reimburse the state of Arizona for the deployment the governor announced to support border security and continue to increase [Department of Homeland Security] personnel who can further assist with the processing of migrants, securing the border and executing important security missions,” the senators wrote to Mr. Biden.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
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