California’s National Guard said on Thursday that it had received written confirmation from the Pentagon that the federal government will fund the deployment of guardsmen along the U.S.-Mexico border and elsewhere.
The National Guard’s claim that it had been notified in writing of the Pentagon’s commitment came hours after President Trump insisted that the federal government would not fund the California deployment.
“At approx 11:30am PDT today, we received written confirmation from the Pentagon that it’ll continue to fund the @theCaGuard mission & personnel mobilized to combat transnat’l crime consistent w/the order issued by @JerryBrownGov – & agreement announced w/the fed gov’t – yesterday,” the California National Guard tweeted.
“In short, nothing has changed today,” it added in a second tweet.
{mosads}
California Gov. Jerry Brown announced on Wednesday that the Trump administration had agreed to fund the deployment of as many as 400 California guardsmen along the U.S.-Mexico border, the California coast and within the state itself.
That mission, Brown said, would focus on combating drug and gun crimes and human trafficking, instead of immigration enforcement.
But Trump appeared to contradict Brown on Thursday, insisting that the federal government would not pay for the California National Guard “to do nothing.”
At the weekly Pentagon press briefing on Thursday, reporters asked if Trump’s tweet meant that the Department of Defense would not be providing federal funding for the deployment of the National Guard in California.
“The Pentagon will continue to support the Department of Homeland Security [DHS] as they identify their needs and their requirements,” Chief Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White responded. “We are in a support role. National Guard troops are under Title 32 and they are under the governor’s command and control. The Department of Defense will stand ready to support DHS.”