A county in New Mexico declared a state of emergency as migrants continue flooding over the U.S. southern border.
Otero County unanimously passed the resolution, which calls on New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to deploy the National Guard to reopen the Customs and Border Patrol checkpoints along the southern border that were closed in March as Border Patrol agents were sent to help process the large numbers of migrants claiming asylum at the border.
The checkpoints help curb the drugs coming into the country, along with other illegal activity, according to the resolution.
“If this demand is not met by the state of New Mexico in one week’s time, the County of Otero will take action itself to provide security and safety and well-being for the people in this county,” Otero County Commission Chairman Couy Griffin told the Alamogordo Daily News.
“Otero County will also consider litigation in regard to the state of New Mexico failing to follow its constitutional duties towards the people of Otero County.”
“If this demand is not met by the State of New Mexico in one week’s time, the County of Otero will take action itself to provide security and safety and well-being for the people in this county.” https://t.co/aSpaC4m7AI
— Alamogordo DailyNews (@alamogordonews) April 18, 2019
Alamogordo Police Chief Brian Peete said that the police department’s workload has grown substantially since the checkpoints were closed.
“My personal concern with Border Patrol being inundated is the amount of drugs that’s going to flow through the town because there are no checkpoints,” Peete said.
Grisham’s spokesman said that the county should reach out to federal agencies, not the governor.
The Democrat pulled New Mexico’s National Guard troops from the border in February. Former Gov. Susana Martinez, a Republican, had deployed National Guard troops to the border in April 2018.
The state of emergency came after the mayor of Yuma, Arizona declared a state of emergency over the flood of migrants.
“There’s an imminent threat of having too many migrant releases into our commune mass release of migrant families from federal detention facilities into the City of Yuma without provisions for adequate food, water, shelter, and medical care threatens to cause injury, damage and suffering to persons and property located in the City of Yuma, Yuma County, Arizona as well as causing a humanitarian crisis,” the proclamation read, reported the Arizona Republic.
Mayor Douglas Nicholls, a Republican, made the declaration on April 16, saying Border Patrol agents had released nearly 1,300 migrants in Yuma, a town with a population of about 100,000, in the past three weeks.
He said that the only shelter in Yuma only has space for 300 people. The declaration is meant to call on the federal government to change immigration policies, Nicholls told the Wall Street Journal.
“I had to do something to change the discussion and to change the posture, to get more resources or get the situation resolved in one manner or another,” he said.
Mayor: Migrants being released into the community faster than they are departing, and shelters and the staff to run them are at max capacity. A state of emergency is declared.
— City of Yuma (@cityofyuma) April 16, 2019
Nicholls said a big problem is transporting migrants out of Yuma due to the transportation network being insufficient to meet with demand.
A Department of Homeland Security official said: “We fully understand the crisis at our southern border and will continue to work with state and local officials to address it.”
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, signaled his support for the declaration, according to the Republic.
“We will review any declaration once we receive it. Ultimately, this humanitarian crisis is the result of Congress’s failure to act. It will only be solved by Congress actually doing something, and the governor has vocally urged Congress to quit playing politics and take action,” Patrick Ptak, a Ducey spokesman, said in a statement.
“In the wake of their inaction, our office is working with local governments, nonprofits and our federal partners to maximize available resources and ensure proper coordination between ICE officials and groups providing temporary services to migrants.”
