GOP President Donald Trump’s plans to build a U.S.-Mexico border wall face increased resistance from state governors, with Wisconsin’s Democratic chief executive being the latest.
Meanwhile, the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives today is expected to decide whether to overturn Trump’s emergency declaration to build 700-miles of barriers.
As the president seeks to fulfill his 2016 presidential campaign promise to build a wall—and as he prepares a 2020 reelection bid—here’s a rundown on presidential pushback from the states.
Wisconsin
Wisconsin’s Gov. Tony Evers issued an order Monday to withdraw the state’s 112 national guard troops from the border. “There is simply not ample evidence to support the president’s contention that there exists a national security crisis at our Southwestern border,” Evers said in a news release.
The Wisconsin governor added border issues fall within the jurisdiction of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Trump’s 2016 general election victory in Wisconsin was crucial to his becoming president.
New Mexico
In early February, ahead of the president’s State of the Union address, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, ordered the state’s 118 deployed National Guard troops to withdraw. She called the president’s claims of an immigration crisis a “charade of border fear-mongering.”
Additionally, Lujan Grisham ordered withdrawal of guard members on the New Mexico-Mexico border from Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Wisconsin, NPR reported.
A small number of New Mexico guard troops remain deployed to respond to humanitarian needs, the governor’s office said.
California
Just days later, Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom acted. He signed an executive order Feb. 11 to withdraw National Guard troops from his state’s border with Mexico.
The 360 troops were re-deployed to assist with wildfire suppression efforts in the state. Meanwhile, Trump threatened to cut Federal Emergency Management Agency funds to California for wildfire relief, although the agency said a presidential order was never issued.
Newsom called Trump’s border emergency a “manufactured crisis.”
Additionally, several other states over the summer withdrew or canceled deployment of National Guard troops in response to the Trump administration’s family separation policy for immigrants crossing into the U.S. Illegally at the Mexican border.
Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina recalled troops over the separation policy. Refusing to deploy troops for the same reason were Colorado, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Oregon.
The president and Congress have been in a months-long standoff over his proposed $18 billion, 10-year funding for the wall, a cornerstone of Trump’s 2016 presidential bid.
Meanwhile, the majority of American voters oppose Trump’s national emergency, according to recent poll conducted by POLITICO/Morning Consult. It concludes that 41% of voters strongly oppose Trump’s decision to declare a national emergency, while just 26% of voters strongly support it, and 13% “somewhat support” the measure.
