As previously reported by Gateway Pundit, California governor Jerry Brown initially agreed to President Trump’s plan of deploying the National Guard along the swiss-cheese like border between California and Mexico which resulted in rare praise from the President on Twitter:
President Trump thanked Governor Jerry Brown for sending the National Guard to the California-Mexico border. Despite Gov. Brown agreeing to accept federal funds and add about 400 troops, Brown asserted that the deployed troops will only be used to “support operations targeting transnational criminal gangs, human traffickers and illegal firearm and drug smugglers” and not be used for “enforcing federal immigration laws.” Also in his statement, Gov Brown stated, “This will not be a mission to build a new wall. It will not be a mission to round up women and children or detain people escaping violence and seeking a better life.”
Well, it looks like what we speculated would happen did happen as legislators in the state have now refused the National Guard’s presence because it is considered too “closely tied to immigration enforcement.”
More Via ABC News10:
Troops will not be allowed to fix and repair vehicles, operate remotely-controlled surveillance cameras to report suspicious activity to the Border Patrol, operate radios and provide “mission support,” which can include clerical work, buying gas and handling payroll, the state reportedly told federal officials. State insiders with knowledge of the talks spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter. […]
Evan Westrup, a spokesman for the governor, did not immediately answer detailed question about California’s rejection of specific guard duties.
Talks between U.S. and California officials about the duties the California troops would perform soured Friday and over the weekend after state authorities told federal officials that they would not participate in vehicle maintenance and the other jobs outlined for an initial phase across the border in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, the U.S. officials said. The other border-state governors — all Republicans — have openly embraced Trump’s plans.
The state’s position infuriated some federal officials because the restrictions California officials wanted to impose on what the state’s troops would not do were considered onerous, the officials said.
