California Gov. Gavin Newsom is planning to pull hundreds of National Guard troops from the southern border in retaliation against Trump’s claim that the region is under siege by illegal immigrants.
The move comes despite his predecessor’s agreement to send troops to the border at Trump’s request.
Foxnes.com reports: Former California Gov. Jerry Brown originally approved the mission through the end of March, but qualified that the state’s troops “will not be enforcing federal immigration laws.”
Newsom’s plan will require the National Guard to immediately begin withdrawing troops but still give it until the end of March to do so. According to excerpts from his Tuesday State of the State address, he will call the “border emergency” a “manufactured crisis,” and will say that “California will not be part of this political theater.”
Newsom’s order will require around 110 National Guard troops to help the state prepare for its next wildfire season while another 100 members will be deployed to focus specifically on combating transnational crime, according to excerpts from his speech. A spokesman for Newsom said his office will separately request federal funds for the expansion of the state’s counterdrug task force program, The Los Angeles Times reported.
California has repeatedly styled itself as the flagship resistance state to the Trump administration’s policies. Newsom, who is just a month into his governorship, has held up the state as an antidote to what he’s characterized as a corrupt Washington, a message he will likely try to convey in his State of the State speech on Tuesday.
Sean Adl-Tabatabai