California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed an order that withdrew almost all of the 400 National Guard troops deployed to the state’s southern border. He went on to say that President Trump’s claim of an emergency at the border was a “manufactured crisis,”
Political Theater
Newsom says California will not be part of the Trump administration’s political theater. “The border ’emergency’ is a manufactured crisis,” Newsom says, according to an excerpt from the speech obtained by BuzzFeed News. “Which is why I have given the National Guard a new mission. … They will refocus on the real threats facing our state.”
“How many hundreds of millions of dollars are being wasted for political gain?” Newsom said at a press conference. “This whole thing is the theatre of the absurd and California has had enough and we will not perpetuate it.”
Border States
Newsom is the second governor to raise an issue with the so-called “border crisis”. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham ordered the withdrawal of the majority of National Guard troops deployed at the border.
“I reject the federal contention that there exists an overwhelming national security crisis at the southern border, along which are some of the safest communities in the country,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement. “New Mexico will not take part in the president’s charade of border fear-mongering by misusing our diligent National Guard troops.”
Actual State of the Border
Arrests at the border are at currently sitting at historic lows. On the other hand, we’re noticing that the number of families apprehended is at an all-time high. This is due to a dramatic increase in the number of families showing up at the border. In 2018, about one-quarter of the 396,579 people arrested between official border crossings were families, compared to just 3% in 2012. So is the Trump administration really interested in catching, “the bad guys?” Or is he just caging and separating Hispanic families?