The Latest: Trump could law to call up some Guard members
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump’s plan to send up to 4,000 National Guard members to the Mexico border to combat illegal immigration and drug trafficking (all times local):
12:45 p.m.
President Donald Trump’s plan to deploy National Guard troops to the Mexican border has drawn resistance from several Democratic governors and Nevada’s Republican governor.
But a growing number of Republican leaders said Friday that they back Trump’s plans. Opponents may not be able to prevent the president from calling on their state National Guard troops if Trump employs a federal law.
The so-called “Title 10 duty status” allows Trump to assert federal control over state guard units even if the governors of those states object.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, said she will not send troops to the Mexico border if asked, but her spokesman Bryan Hockaday said that Trump could assert federal control over the state’s Guard members.
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12:30 p.m.
Mississippi Republican Gov. Phil Bryant says he “fully supports” President Donald Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard to patrol the U.S.-Mexican border.
Bryant said Friday in a statement that Mississippi’s National Guard “will stand ready to receive the president’s orders.”
Mississippi National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Christian Patterson says about 3,500 Mississippi soldiers are now training in Texas for deployment later this year to the Middle East.
Patterson says he can’t immediately say how many of remaining members of the 12,500-member force might be suited to border deployment.
As of Friday afternoon, Patterson says the state has not received orders to send troops to the border.
Patterson says individual guard members have been deployed to patrol the border in the past, but says Mississippi never has had a “large presence.”
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11:20 a.m.
Alabama’s governor says she’ll work with military leaders to determine whether her state’s National Guard has spare troops to send to the Mexican border if requested by the White House.
President Donald Trump wants to send as many as 4,000 Guard members to the border.
Republican Gov. Kay Ivey says she will consult with the head of the Alabama Guard to see what resources are available.
A statement issued Friday by Ivey’s office cites the need not to impede Guard missions in the state.
It also quotes Ivey as saying: “Alabama has a long history of supporting our military and supporting our country in times of need.”
Trump carried Alabama easily in the 2016 presidential election and remains very popular in the heavily Republican state.
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10:30 a.m.
Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval is the latest governor to oppose President Donald Trump’s proposal to send thousands of National Guard members to the Mexico border to help fight illegal immigration and drug trafficking.
Sandoval’s spokeswoman, Mary-Sarah Kinner, said Friday in an email to The Associated Press that the Trump administration has not contacted the Republican governor’s office about the idea.
She says Sandoval doesn’t believe the current proposal would be “an appropriate use” of the Nevada Guard.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, both Democrats, also said this week that they would say no to requests for troops from their national guards.
Trump wants to send up to 4,000 Guard members to the border.
The Republican governors of border states Arizona, New Mexico and Texas back the deployment.
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8 a.m.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum says he will send National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexican border if asked.
President Donald Trump said Thursday he wants to send up to 4,000 Guard members to the border to help federal officials fight illegal immigration and drug trafficking.
The Republican Burgum said in a statement from his office Friday that governors of states along the border with Mexico are in the best position to say whether Guard troops are needed.
But he says North Dakota supports those states and will help if asked.
The North Dakota Guard provided air, ground and engineering support along the Mexico border under Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush.
