CHC Chair Statement on Trump’s Decision to Deploy National Guard Troops to U.S.-Mexico Border

Washington, D.C. - Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) Chairwoman Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham (NM-01) released the following statement in reaction to the Trump Administration announcement to deploy National Guard troops at the U.S.-Mexico border:

"Trump's purely political and unwarranted decision to deploy troops to the U.S.-Mexico border will go down as a grossly inefficient use of critical resources and will ultimately undermine our military's readiness. Furthermore, border apprehensions and crossings are at a historic low and this haphazard deployment, which is opposed by southern border communities, will further strain the coffers of state governments.

"Trump's rushed and costly decision comes at a time when our nation's health care costs are sky-rocketing, our infrastructure is crumbling, and working families are struggling to make ends meet. Yet the President continues to demonstrate that he is more interested in advancing politically driven campaign-related issues than resolving our nation's most pressing challenges. Instead of actively working with bi-partisan groups in Congress to resolve our broken immigration system or a DACA-crisis he created, Trump would rather deplete our military assets on border militarization in order to shore up political support.

"It is clear that this Presidential order is part of an ongoing coordinated effort to scapegoat the DACA program, disparage asylum seekers, undermine protections for children fleeing violence, erode due process protections and human rights, and use the lives of 800,000 young people as political pawns in his nonsensical effort to have taxpayers fund the construction of his campaign border wall."

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