SANTA TERESA – Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham visited the border on Friday to get a firsthand look at conditions and gather data to decide whether to withdraw New Mexico National Guard troops.
“I haven’t seen anything to indicate we have an emergent crisis here on the border,” Lujan Grisham told a news conference after her tour.
The visit included a briefing from Customs and Border Protection officials in Sunland Park and a meeting with New Mexico National Guard leaders and troops in Santa Teresa.
The CBP briefing and visit to the Santa Teresa Port of Entry were closed to the media, but the governor met with reporters after the tour.
She also had an opportunity to see Border Patrol holding cells on Friday morning when there were 32 people in custody. Half were children, the governor said.
“What we are seeing are individuals fleeing violence, and it’s predominantly women and children,” Lujan Grisham said.
The El Paso Border Patrol sector, which includes all of New Mexico, has experienced a spike in families from Central America seeking asylum. Two children from Guatemala died in Border Patrol custody in New Mexico in December.
The governor said she had “long been concerned” about detention facilities, but during her brief visit to the Border Patrol holding cells, “I did not see in the few minutes that I was there anything that gave me serious concern in that moment.”
The governor noted that illegal crossings are at “historic lows” and said she asked CBP officials for “better data” to compare year-to-year apprehensions and drug seizures to decide whether to keep New Mexico National Guard troops on the border...
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This is all, of course, a setup to provide both legal and political fodder against President Trump declaring an emergency, and will gain the Governor national media attention.
1 comment:
The national emergency we have is Michelle Lujan Grisham as governor. We can depend upon more stupid comments coming from her throughout the next 4 years. Her comments and actions as governor will spotlight New Mexico as a backward, banana belt state ruled by backward, small minded demoncrats who have succeeded in putting New Mexico at the bottom of the pile in education and at the top of the pile in taxes. Santa Fe will continue to be the sanctuary city for all illegals who can make it there. Drivers licenses passed out, voter registration for non-citizens, ballot harvesting for all elections and on and on and on. What a shame, was once a wonderful state, the Land of Enchantment, the chili capital of the world. Now we edge forward as the arm pit of the United States. Soon the governor will be riding her bike around the state picking up beer cans and Gary Johnson will be showing her how to roll a toke as she does it.
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