Jerry Brown said Wednesday he would accept federal funds to add hundreds of new members to the National Guard to support the state’s “ongoing program to combat transnational crime.” But he emphasized that the troops wouldn’t be enforcing federal immigration policies. The announcement comes in response to President Donald Trump’s directive to the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security to work with governors across the country to deploy National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border. In a letter to Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Brown said he would accept funding from the federal government to increase the state guard by some 400 troops. Of these new guard members, some would be stationed at the border, he said, while others would be deployed to the coast and other parts of California. And the California National Guard will not be enforcing federal immigration laws.”It isn’t clear how many of the 400 would be deployed to the border.

Source: Huffington Post April 11, 2018 21:45 UTC