Democrat Katie Hobbs sends Arizona National Guard to border, bashing Biden’s refusal
Anna Giaritelli
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Gov. Katie Hobbs (D-AZ) made a break with the Biden administration Friday with the announcement that Arizona would send its own military to the southern border after the White House refused to redirect troops under federal orders to assist.
Hobbs signed an executive order Friday afternoon that blamed President Joe Biden for the “unmitigated humanitarian crisis” across the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border and further attacked him for refusing to redirect federally assigned troops to a part of Arizona where thousands of immigrants per day have entered the country illegally for weeks.
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“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. “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.”
Hobbs asked the Biden administration more than a week ago to reassign the troops under federal order. About 2,500 National Guard service members are currently on federal active duty orders on the southern border, and 243 of those service members are already in the Tucson Sector, she noted.
Her move not only sends state soldiers down to the border but takes a page out of the playbook of immigration stalwart Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX). In early 2021, Abbott commenced Operation Lone Star, which deployed state military and state police down to the border to help federal law enforcement.
Arizona has launched Operation Secure, in which the military will support and augment the state’s Department of Public Safety and local law enforcement “relating to violations of the law of this State, such as fentanyl interdiction, analytical support, and human trafficking enforcement, in the southern border region,” the executive order stated.
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“For far too long, Arizona has borne the burden of federal inaction in managing the State’s southern border,” Hobbs wrote. “The federal government’s recent decision to close the Lukeville Port of Entry has led to an unmitigated humanitarian crisis in the area and has put Arizona’s safety and commerce at risk.”
Hobbs met on Friday with Alfonso Durazo, governor of the neighboring Mexican state Sonora, to discuss how to continue international commerce nearly two weeks after the Biden administration shut down the Lukeville port of entry. The U.S. government diverted customs officers who normally screen pedestrians and vehicles to instead help intake and process illegal immigrants who walk into the U.S. by going around the port of entry crossing.