SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A dozen Republican state legislators want Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to reverse course and deploy more National Guard troops to the border with Mexico.
GOP House lawmakers including minority leader James Townsend of Artesia provided a letter Monday to the governor's office that urges Lujan Grisham to deploy more state National Guard troops to border communities.
Lujan Grisham has challenged President Trump's description of a security crisis on the border and withdrawn all but a dozen national guardsmen who continue to address humanitarian needs in a remote corridor for border-crossing immigration.
The Republican lawmakers are citing emergency declarations by Otero County over reduced staffing at Border Patrol checkpoints and the city of Deming's complaints about the strain of sheltering asylum seekers who are released by federal immigration authorities.