Democratic governors in California and New Mexico are starting to cut back on the number of National Guard troops stationed at the border after deciding they don’t agree with President Trump that the border is in a state of emergency.
And in Arizona, troops from Wisconsin are being pulled because the new Democratic governor from the Badger State also disagrees with Trump’s policy.
Nearly a year after Trump authorized the push to get guardsmen at the border, more than 2,100 are still deployed. But that number has already started to fall, and will continue to drop in the coming weeks as blue states pull out from the mission, according to Pentagon officials.
New Mexico’s troops have been hit the hardest of the four border states. Just 18 guardsmen remain deployed there, down from the 200 former Republican Gov. Susan Martinez sent to the southern border last April. That number had dwindled down to 118 until earlier this month when Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham cut it nearly 90 percent to its current figure.
The governor, who took office last month, said she chose to send home the majority of troops from Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Wisconsin because she did not agree the border was in an emergency and needed the military’s assistance.