California gov says feds will fund National Guard deployment

The Trump administration has agreed to fund the deployment of as many as 400 California National Guard troops along the U.S.-Mexico border and elsewhere, the state’s governor, Jerry Brown, said Wednesday.

The mission will focus on combating criminal gangs, human trafficking and drug and gun crimes along the border, the California coast and within the state itself, Brown said.

The mission will not focus on immigration enforcement, he said.

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Brown agreed last week to deploy the California National Guard after President Trump announced that he would send troops to the southern border to stymie illegal border crossings.

But Brown also said his state’s National Guard would not seek to enforce immigration laws, sparking a debate between state and federal officials about how California’s guardsmen would fit into Trump’s overall mission.

“[T]he Governor’s order, issued today, specifies that the California National Guard will not enforce immigration laws or participate in the construction of any new border barrier,” Brown’s office said in a statement.

“The location of Guard personnel — and number specifically working in support of operations within the state, along the coast and at the U.S.-Mexico border — will continue to be dictated by the needs on the ground.”