Arizona Governor Doug Ducey declared a state of emergency on Arizona’s southwest border and said the state would deploy 250 National Guard troops to assist local law enforcement.
“The US Border Patrol is overwhelmed. Local law enforcement officers and mayors are calling for help, ”the Republican said in a taped statement on Tuesday. “Citizens and our border communities are concerned about their security, and nonprofits, who have to pick up the pieces of broken federal policy, are on edge.”
Arizona is the first state to declare an emergency in connection with the rapid increase in the number of arrests of people crossing the border illegally this year. Border Patrol agents made about 168,000 arrests at the border in March, compared to about 71,000 in December.
The governor said the state would allocate $ 25 million to fund the National Guard’s mission. He did not say how long the deployment would last.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.