The Scoop

Arizona Gov Declares State Of Emergency Over Biden’s Immigration Crisis, Deploys National Guard To Border

By • April 22, 2021 3:03 pm

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey has declared a state of emergency in the southern border and ordered its National Guard to help manage the crisis that continues to overwhelm resources with the unprecedented number of daily crossers.

The Republican governor made the announcement on Tuesday and said that the state will provide up to $25 million in initial funding for the “mission” — which would need up to 250 guardsmen to help border communities.

The program would include installing and maintaining surveillance cameras, collecting data, looking into trends in border crossings, as well as helping with operations at detention centers.

“The situation in our border communities is just as bad, if not worse, than the coverage we’ve been seeing,” Ducey said in a statement. He added that the ongoing crisis at the US-Mexico border has largely disappeared from the headlines of mainstream media even though the unprecedented flow of migrants in the border continues.

He then slammed Democratic President Joe Biden and his administration’s failure to act on the crisis.

“It’s become evidently clear that Arizona needs the National Guard, and the White House is aware of that. Yet, to this day, there has been no action from this administration, and it doesn’t look like they are going to act any time soon,” he added. 

“If this administration isn’t going to do anything, then we will.”

Unprecedented number of border crossers

The Arizona governor’s announcement came as The Wall Street Journal reported that the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) encountered nearly 200,000 migrants at the US’ southern border in March alone. 

“That’s up from 103,731 in March 2019 and 50,347 in March 2018,” the publication added.

The numbers also included nearly 19,000 “unaccompanied children” — which is more than four times the number of kids apprehended in March 2020.

The report noted the surge from the 9,380 seen in March 2019 and the 5,244 in March 2018. 

CBP also reported 53,623 encounters with family units last month, a 173% increase over February and the most since the peak of the 2019 border crisis.

“The situation in our border communities is just as bad — if not worse — than the coverage we’ve been seeing,” Ducey said.

Ducey’s decision was also supported by both the state’s Democratic senators — Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly, who both urged fellow Democrat President Biden to reimburse their state for the deployment of the Guard. 

“There is a crisis on the border and I have pushed the administration for the additional resources, staffing, transportation, and the testing necessary to provide a secure, orderly process that does not fall on Arizona communities,” Kelly wrote.

“In visiting the Yuma Sector and speaking with Border Patrol and other local leaders, it’s clear that their resources and staffing are strained.”

Arizona is not the first state to deploy National Guard troops to help in the spiraling border situation. 

In March, another GOP Governor, Greg Abbott, launched “Operation Lone Star” meant to assist in the border crisis. 

Meanwhile, after refusing to describe the border situation as a “crisis” President Biden briefly admitted that the situation at the US-Mexico border is a “crisis” over the weekend but was officially corrected by his press secretary, Jen Psaki later on.

“The president does not feel that children coming to our border seeking refuge from violence, economic hardships, and other dire circumstances is a crisis,” Psaki said, explaining Biden’s remark.

Steeve Strange

Steeve is the CEO & Co-Founder of The Scoop.
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