A draft memo from the White House to deploy National Guard troops in certain states to aid in rounding up those in the country illegally. One of those states is New Mexico.
At least two spokesmen have denied the report from the Associated Press.
The AP first reported on the existence of the draft memo this morning and said that Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly wrote the memo himself.
From the AP report:
Four states that border on Mexico are included in the proposal — California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas — but it also encompasses seven states contiguous to those four — Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.
Governors in the 11 states would have a choice whether to have their guard troops participate, according to the memo, written by U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, a retired four-star Marine general.
The plan received immediate push-back from the White House.
Sean Spicer tells NBC News the AP story is "100%" not true, it's false, there's no effort to use National Guard to round up immigrants
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) February 17, 2017
https://twitter.com/DoreyScheimer/status/832621620028018688
Other national politics reporters cited other White House officials who denied the plan.
In New Mexico, former Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat, ordered National Guard troops to patrol the border in 2010. The troops did not apprehend immigrants.
Former President George W. Bush also sent National Guard troops twice to the border. Again, they did not apprehend any immigrants.
When then-Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced he would send National Guard troops in that state to the border to help with the increase of children and families entering the country from Central America, Gov. Susana Martinez declined to do the same in New Mexico.
Recently, Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions took place in southern New Mexico, though to what extent is still unclear.
