International
Arizona governor sends National Guard to border to handle migrant flow
December 18 |
Arizona’s governor on Friday ordered the state’s National Guard to be stationed along the border with Mexico to help federal authorities handle the influx of migrants.
Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs said she issued the executive order because “the federal government refuses to do its job to protect our border and keep our communities safe.”
“I’m taking action where the federal government won’t,” Hobbs added.
It is unclear when troops would arrive at the border or exactly how many elements would be mobilized.
Hobbs asked President Joe Biden’s administration a week ago to mobilize 243 Arizona National Guard troops already in the Border Patrol’s Tucson sector – which includes Lukeville – to help federal authorities reopen the border crossing that was closed indefinitely on Dec. 4.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has stated that it was necessary to close the crossing to allow personnel there to assist the Border Patrol in managing the hundreds of migrants who cross illegally through that area daily.
Although remote, the crossing is a popular route for Arizonans traveling to the Mexican resort of Puerto Peñasco, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of the border on the northern coast of the Sea of Cortez.
Hobbs said National Guard soldiers will be stationed at various points along the southern border, including around Lukeville.
There, they will be supporting state and local authorities in maintaining security, as well as interdicting drug and human trafficking.
The San Miguel crossing, located farther east in the territory of the Tohono O’odham First Nation, has also seen hundreds of migrant arrivals each day, but tribal authorities said the National Guard would not be stationed on the reservation.
“We are in close communication with Gov. Hobbs on this issue,” said Verlon Jose, leader of the Tohono O’odham Nation. “We made it clear that no National Guard members would be deployed on the Nation and her office agreed. Today’s action by the governor is a necessary step to address the current crisis on the border.”
Hobbs said the Biden administration did not respond to his request that the federal government reimburse Arizona for border security spending.
CBP officials said they had no immediate response to the governor’s decision.
Lt. Gen. Kerry L. Muehlenbeck, who oversees the Arizona National Guard, noted that in September he concluded a 30-month active duty assignment providing support to law enforcement agencies in southern Arizona.
Muehlenbeck said the previous mission provided logistical, administrative, cyber and medical support.
U.S. Rep. Raul M. Grijalva, who represents southern Arizona, said he disagreed with Hobbs’ executive order.
“But I do appreciate that Governor Hobbs has rejected the brutal and cruel tactics of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who have taken advantage of this crisis to inhumanely and illegally use migrants as political pawns and to politicize and pander rather than work on real solutions,” Grijalva said in a statement.
International
Trump urges Putin to reach peace deal
On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his desire for Russian President Vladimir Putin to “reach a deal” to end the war in Ukraine, while also reaffirming his willingness to impose sanctions on Russia.
“I want to see him reach an agreement to prevent Russian, Ukrainian, and other people from dying,” Trump stated during a press conference in the Oval Office at the White House.
“I think he will. I don’t want to have to impose secondary tariffs on Russian oil,” the Republican leader added, recalling that he had already taken similar measures against Venezuela by sanctioning buyers of the South American country’s crude oil.
Trump also reiterated his frustration over Ukraine’s resistance to an agreement that would allow the United States to exploit natural resources in the country—a condition he set in negotiations to end the war.
International
Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links
A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.
Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.
However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.
International
Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”
The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.
“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.
The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.
His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”
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