The top Democrats in the state House and Senate are preparing to ask Gov. Asa Hutchinson to end the deployment of Arkansas National Guard soldiers assisting Border Patrol operations at the southern border of the U.S. "We are preparing a letter," said State Rep. Charles Blake, D- Little Rock, who is in his third day serving as House Minority Leader. Blake said Senate Minority Leader Keith Ingram, D- West Memphis, is helping him draft the letter.
An early draft of the letter obtained by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette asks the governor to end his commitment to deploy National Guard troops and to renounce President Donald Trump's "zero-tolerance" on immigration, which is being enforced through the separation of families caught crossing the border. [RELATED: Trump says he'll sign order ending child-parent separation]
"What is happening at the border right now is a disgrace and it is not American," Blake said. The governor's office did have an immediate comment on the letter.
According to a spokesman for the Arkansas National Guard, eight guardsmen and two helicopters are currently deployed in areas of New Mexico to aid in patrolling the border. Those troops are not participating in any law enforcement activities, according to guard spokesman Major Will Phillips, and are mainly conducting air observation.
NW News on 06/21/2018
