Rep. Yvette Herrell renews call for National Guard deployment to New Mexico border
Algernon D'AmmassaLAS CRUCES – U.S. Rep. Yvette Herrell, R-N.M., renewed her previous call for Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to deploy the New Mexico National Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border.
Herrell, the lone Republican in New Mexico's congressional delegation, represents New Mexico's 2nd congressional district, which encompasses all of southern New Mexico.
The congresswoman first made the request in April in response to large increases of traffic at the U.S-Mexico border and pressure on the U.S. Border Patrol, which Herrell described in her original letter as "overworked, undermanned and under-supplied."
In 2018, Lujan Grisham's predecessor, Gov. Susana Martinez, deployed state guardsmen to assist Border Patrol with non-enforcement activities, at the behest of President Donald Trump (a fellow Republican), in response to an increase in unlawful border crossings and resistance in Congress to Trump's promised border wall.
Weeks after taking office in 2019, Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, withdrew most of that deployment.
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Herrell, a former state lawmaker from Alamogordo, has been a staunch supporter of the border wall and tighter controls on immigration. She has previously called on the Biden Administration to finish gaps between border wall segments in New Mexico.
In her Aug. 3 letter, which was joined by five of her Republican colleagues in the House, addressed increased attempts to reach the United States through its southern border as "the Biden Border Crisis," accusing the new president of inadequate enforcement of Title 42, a policy that allows border authorities to expel undocumented migrants to curb the spread of COVID-19 disease in holding facilities.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency reported 188,829 encounters with migrants in June, up five percent from May.
"The National Guard in Texas and Arizona are serving as vital components of gaining situational awareness and control of our border and stopping the illegal flow of people and drugs," Herrell wrote in the new letter. "It is lamentable that you will not help prevent further COVID-19 infections from illegal immigrants nor stop the deaths of thousands of Americans from drugs that are flowing across our border."
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The letter also asserts: "There is no greater threat to the spread of coronavirus than those unvaccinated and untested illegal immigrants that are crossing our border and entering into our communities and spreading the virus to our citizens."
While pointing to migrants as a COVID-19 risk, Herrell is co-sponsoring a House bill that would prevent airlines from requiring passengers to be vaccinated and refuse federal funds to educational institutions with vaccine mandates.
The congresswoman also requested that Lujan Grisham join her for a visit to border areas in Luna and Hidalgo counties. "You will see how this situation is affecting our farmers, ranchers, and ordinary citizens and understand that this affects all Americans," the letter states.
Nora Meyers Sackett, the governor's press secretary, again directed Herrell and her co-authors to federal agencies, saying the state National Guard has been engaged in pandemic-related missions.
"The New Mexico National Guard has been tireless in their efforts to support and preserve New Mexicans' public health, putting in countless hours assisting New Mexicans during the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic, including staffing COVID testing sites, delivering thousands of tons of food, water, and (personal protective equipment) across the state, and vaccinating tens of thousands of New Mexicans statewide," she said.
"We encourage the congresswoman and her partisan colleagues to most effectively address her own concerns — the ones based in reality, that is, and not those that are based in intentional disinformation or xenophobia – by directing them to the federal agencies working on the issue," she continued.
The governor's office did not respond to Herrell's request for a joint visit to the border.
Algernon D'Ammassa can be reached at 575-541-5451, adammassa@lcsun-news.com or @AlgernonWrites on Twitter.
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