Rep. Juan Ciscomani, a Republican from Arizona, has responded to protests erupting at a Democratic event in New York City over the ongoing migrant crisis. Ciscomani is calling for the deployment of Arizona’s National Guard to the southern border to help authorities deal with a surge in migrants to the Tucson Sector. The border has recently seen over 9,400 encounters in a 24-hour period, with Border Patrol apprehending around 7,700 individuals. Ciscomani states that the Tucson Sector is overwhelmed and in need of immediate support.
In a letter addressed to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Ciscomani urges for the immediate request of Department of Defense deployment of the Arizona National Guard to address the dire situation. While the state government can also deploy the state’s National Guard, it would be at Arizona’s expense, whereas a move by DHS and the Pentagon would mean the federal government bears the expense.
The Biden administration had previously deployed troops to the border in anticipation of a surge of migration when the Title 42 public health order ended in May. Other states, including Arizona, also deployed personnel, including the National Guard, to the border. However, numbers have continued to increase, setting new records for encounters in September and raising concerns once again.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has been allocating more resources and personnel to the Tucson Sector, which typically sees less traffic compared to other sectors. They have also been focusing on transporting migrants to other parts of the border and utilizing expedited removal as an alternative to releasing them into the U.S. The Biden administration has requested additional resources, including staffing and non-custodial housing, as part of its $14 billion supplemental request to Congress for border operations.
The Biden administration has emphasized the need for Congress to provide more funding to address the Hemisphere-wide crisis. They have also called on Republicans to support a comprehensive immigration bill unveiled at the start of the administration, which Republicans have rejected. Instead, Republicans have introduced their own bill aimed at increasing border security funding while imposing stricter limits on asylum and the use of humanitarian parole. Republicans have blamed the ongoing crisis on the administration’s rollback of Trump-era policies.
Ciscomani has criticized the Biden administration and called for immediate action to address the crisis at the border. He believes that deploying the National Guard in Arizona would provide much-needed reinforcement to the CBP agents and officers tasked with securing the border.
It is important to note that this report was contributed by Bill Melugin, and Adam Shaw is the politics reporter primarily covering immigration and border security for Fox News.
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