OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Arizona’s Democratic governor is the latest to defy President Joe Biden over his immigration and border policies, as more members of his party break with him over the issue ahead of the 2024 elections.
Gov. Katie Hobbs on Friday issued an executive order directing elements of the Arizona National Guard to deploy to the state’s border with Mexico as the illegal migrant crisis worsens.
In it, she blamed Biden for the “unmitigated humanitarian crisis” across the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border while further criticizing him for his refusal to direct federally-ordered troops to a portion of her state where thousands of migrants per day enter the country illegally and done so for weeks.
“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 urged the Biden administration over a week ago to deploy troops under federal orders. Presently, around 2,500 National Guard members are on federal active duty orders at the southern border, with 243 of them already deployed in the Tucson Sector, she emphasized, according to the Washington Examiner.
By deploying state soldiers to the border, she is taking a cue from Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R), who initiated Operation Lone Star in early 2021. That operation involves sending state military and police personnel to assist federal law enforcement efforts at the border, but it doesn’t actually prevent migrants from entering illegally.
Hobbs’ administration 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 said.
READ: @GovernorHobbs signs Executive Order sending National Guard troops to the southern border, including Lukeville. pic.twitter.com/7IVS923y9E
— Cameron Arcand (@cameron_arcand) December 15, 2023
“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 recently met with Alfonso Durazo, the governor of the adjacent Mexican state Sonora, to explore ways to maintain international commerce, especially after the Lukeville port of entry was closed by the Biden administration nearly two weeks ago, the Examiner added. The diversion of customs officers, who typically handle screenings at the port, to assist with processing and intake of undocumented immigrants walking into the U.S. has complicated border operations.
The House Republican majority has been pushing Biden to do his job and enforce existing immigration laws after he overturned nearly all of former President Donald Trump’s policies on his first day in office, including halting construction of the border wall.
Last week, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) came away from a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky more determined than ever to tie providing more aid to his embattled country with a commitment from Biden to finally get tough on U.S. border security.
The Ukrainian leader was in Washington on Tuesday to plead for more military assistance as his forces have been unable to dislodge Russian troops from their positions inside the eastern sectors of his country after they invaded nearly two years ago.
But Johnson, who has been pushing border security for weeks as part of any future aid package for Ukraine, as well as Taiwan, made it clear following his meeting he wasn’t budging until the White House produced a legitimate and substantial border security plan.
He also accused the Biden administration of failing to provide the American people with a clear plan ahead for Ukraine after providing the country with at least $100 billion, even as the national debt has surpassed $34 trillion under Joe Biden and, for two years of his term, a Democratic Congress.
“I have asked the White House since the day that I was handed the gavel as speaker for clarity,” Johnson told reporters after the meeting. “We need a clear articulation of the strategy to allow Ukraine to win. And thus far their responses have been insufficient.