New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, said Sunday that she pulled out most of the National Guard troops from her state because there’s no border emergency.
“And the reality is, is that these troops need to be available when there is a serious issue, or an emergency to deal with,” she said. Grisham argued that President Donald Trump‘s border polices, including the proposed wall, caused legitimate humanitarian problems for people legally seeking asylum, so she kept some National Guard members at hand.
The governor’s office announced earlier this month that she’d withdraw most of 118 National Guard members from the state. Some are being kept in the southwestern part of the state–focused on Hidalgo County–so as to help what were described as “humanitarian needs.”
New Mexico was one of over a dozen states to recently sue over Trump’s declared national emergency at the border. The president insists he needs to redirect federal funds to build a wall to prevent drug trafficking and other crimes from crossing into the United States from the border with Mexico. Plaintiffs, including the state of California, argue that there’s no national emergency and the move is unconstitutional. They argue the president is exaggerating.
A Change.org petition to impeach Grisham over the removal garnered over 59,000 signatures as of Sunday evening.
[Screengrab via Face the Nation]