The federal government and California Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration have reached a deal on the tasks National Guard troops will carry out while deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border, the California Military Department announced Friday evening.
Brown notified 200 guardsmen last Friday to report for duty. On Saturday, those troops will report to Camp Roberts — halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco — for training.
The group is expected to finish training by the middle of next week then deploy to the El Centro and San Diego Sectors.
“There, they will support federal efforts to target and prosecute transnational criminal gangs, human traffickers and illegal firearm and drug smugglers by providing: counterdrug surveillance, intelligence gathering, camera monitoring, paralegal work, telecommunications equipment installation and maintenance, heavy equipment operation, physical infrastructure maintenance, and administrative and logistical assistance,” Lt. Col. Thomas W. Keegan, public affairs director for CMD, said in a statement.
Fifty-five National Guard troops are already supporting similar missions at the border.
President Trump called for the Guard’s deployment in early April. Republican governors from Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico complied within a week and began making arrangements for the mission.
Brown, a Democrat who said he will not allow troops to engage in immigration-related tasks, spent the following weeks in talks with the Department of Homeland Security about the exact roles the California Guard would take on if deployed.
CMD defended the three-week hold-up on Friday and said it was shorter than the 77 days it took to do so under former President George W. Bush in 2006 and 58 days under former President Barack Obama in 2010.
The Brown administration reiterated its troops “will not engage in any direct law enforcement role nor enforce immigration laws, or participate in the construction of any new border barrier.”
California has approved up to 400 total National Guard troops and has agreed to the current arrangement through at least Sept. 30, the end of fiscal 2018.
