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Arizona, Texas send 400 troops to border after Trump’s call

In this Saturday Oct. 10, 2009, file photo, a U.S. military helicopter, the CH-53E Super Stallion, airlifts humanitarian aid to be dropped in affected regions around Pariaman, north of Padang, Indonesia. On Tuesday, April 3, 2018, a CH-53E Super Stallion similar to the one shown went down shortly after 2:30 p.m., during a training mission near El Centro, Calif., a few miles from the U.S.-Mexico border. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File)
In this Saturday Oct. 10, 2009, file photo, a U.S. military helicopter, the CH-53E Super Stallion, airlifts humanitarian aid to be dropped in affected regions around Pariaman, north of Padang, Indonesia. On Tuesday, April 3, 2018, a CH-53E Super Stallion similar to the one shown went down shortly after 2:30 p.m., during a training mission near El Centro, Calif., a few miles from the U.S.-Mexico border. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File) In this Saturday Oct. 10, 2009, file photo, a U.S. military helicopter, the CH-53E Super Stallion, airlifts humanitarian aid to be dropped in affected regions around Pariaman, north of Padang, Indonesia. On Tuesday, April 3, 2018, a CH-53E Super Stallion similar to the one shown went down shortly after 2:30 p.m., during a training mission near El Centro, Calif., a few miles from the U.S.-Mexico border. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File)

By Associated Press 4 min read

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Arizona and Texas announced Friday that they would send 400 National Guard members to the U.S.-Mexico border by next week in response to President Donald Trump’s call for troops to fight drug trafficking and illegal immigration.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said about 150 Guard members would deploy next week. And the Texas National Guard said it was already sending Guardsmen to the border, with plans to place 250 troops there in the next 72 hours as an “initial surge,” according to a Guard spokesman. Two helicopters lifted off Friday night from Austin, the state capital, to head south.

The total so far remains well short of the 2,000 to 4,000 National Guard members that Trump told reporters he wants to send. New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez’s office said Friday that it had not yet deployed any Guard members. The office of California Gov. Jerry Brown did not respond to questions about whether it would deploy troops.

Trump’s proclamation Wednesday directing the use of National Guard troops refers to Title 32, a federal law under which Guard members remain under the command and control of their state’s governor. This leaves open the possibility that California’s Brown could turn him down.

Defense Secretary James Mattis Friday night approved paying for up to 4,000 National Guard personnel from the Pentagon budget through the end of September. A Defense Department memo says the National Guard personnel will not perform law enforcement functions or “interact with migrants or other persons detained” without Mattis’s approval. It said “arming will be limited to circumstances that might require self-defense,” but it did not further define that.