NY Gov Cuomo Stands Defiant Against Trump – National Guard Decision Hits W.H. Hard

0
898

One of the latest high profile actions of the Trump administration that has sparked significant backlash and outrage is the institution of a policy of separating immigrant children from their families upon them crossing the border without proper documentation or authorization. This policy, which is not mandated by law, comes as part of a much broader Trump administration campaign to crack down on immigration.

Now, Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has made it clear in a new statement that he wants no part in the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant campaign. Besides lambasting the Trump administration’s policy decisions, he also asserted that his state will not be deploying any members of the National Guard to assist the administration in their immigration crackdown efforts.

Trump had set a deployment of members of the National Guard in motion earlier this year in the face of continued opposition to his plans to construct a U.S./ Mexico border wall. Those National Guard members to be sent to the border were basically meant to help point Border Patrol officers in the right direction; they weren’t to actually detain anyone. Deployments of the National Guard have to be approved by governors, which is the context that Cuomo’s Monday statement comes in.

Of the subject, he said, in part:

‘In the face of this ongoing human tragedy, let me be very clear: New York will not be party to this inhumane treatment of immigrant families. We will not deploy National Guard to the border, and we will not be complicit in a political agenda that governs by fear and division.’

cuomo NY Gov Cuomo Stands Defiant Against Trump -  National Guard Decision Hits W.H. Hard Donald Trump Immigration Politics Top Stories

With his statement, Cuomo joins a group of other governors who have also made their intention to stay out of the Trump administration’s implementation of their anti-immigrant agenda known. Republican Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker and Democratic Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper did as well; in at least Baker’s case, there was an already set in motion deployment that was cancelled.

There are other forms of opposition to the family separations that have gained traction as well. Every single Democratic member of the U.S. Senate has, at this point, signed onto a measure barring the Trump administration from carrying out the separations, but as of early Monday, not a single Republican had done so.

manchin NY Gov Cuomo Stands Defiant Against Trump -  National Guard Decision Hits W.H. Hard Donald Trump Immigration Politics Top Stories

That complete absence of Senate Republican support for a measure ending border family separations comes as Trump shills like Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen continue to dig the hole of lies they’re in deeper and deeper in efforts to defend the conduct of the Trump administration.

nielsenn NY Gov Cuomo Stands Defiant Against Trump -  National Guard Decision Hits W.H. Hard Donald Trump Immigration Politics Top Stories

She went so far as to claim there to not even be a border family separations policy in place, although that’s precisely what’s happening. The administration has chosen to prosecute undocumented border crossers to the fullest extent of the law, which has left thousands of children in government custody despite the fact that crossing the border without documentation is a nonviolent criminal misdemeanor.

The idea being put forward by the Trump administration that taking children from their families after they cross the border to escape who knows what is some sort of testament to “tough” and “righteous” policing is a sick joke, which is what the administration will go down in history as.

Featured Image via Drew Angerer/Getty Images