The Democratic governor of Arizona, in the southwestern United States, announced on Friday that she would send National Guard soldiers to her state’s border with Mexico, accusing the Joe Biden administration of “refusing to do your job” in the face of the influx of migrants. .
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Katie Hobbs, whose term Republicans are eyeing in the upcoming elections, last week criticized her Democratic colleague in the White House after his decision to close a border crossing.
“Once again, the federal government refuses to do its job to secure our border,” the governor said in her order Friday.
“Arizona needs the resources and hands to reopen the Lukeville crossing, manage the flow of migrants, and maintain a safe, orderly, and humane border,” she said.
“Despite repeated requests for assistance, the Biden administration has refused to provide much-needed resources to the Arizona border,” the governor added.
Many towns near the Lukeville border crossing depend on it for their economic survival, and its closure has affected families on both sides of the border.
One year before the 2024 presidential election, illegal immigration has become a highly political topic in the United States, with Republicans accusing the ruling Democrats of turning the border into a sieve.
And some Democrats in key states, like Arizona, are hot on the issue.
From January to the end of September 2023, Border Patrol agents recorded about 2.4 million encounters with migrants – a record number – both at official entry points into the United States and elsewhere along the southern border.
In October alone, they registered an additional 240,000.
Donald Trump delivers fiery rhetoric on immigration, which his base welcomes. The former president, the front-runner in the Republican primaries, specifically promised to use the army to completely close the borders, without presenting a detailed program.
This issue is thorny for Joe Biden, who faces calls on the left for a more humane immigration system, while on the right he is urged to establish stricter controls.
