Crisis heats up at southern border

Phoenix AZ

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PHOENIX — Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said Tuesday he is sending 250 National Guard troops to the state’s southern border with Mexico amid the increased arrivals of migrants. Arizona is the first state to declare an emergency related to the widening border crisis. Border Patrol agents made about 168,000 arrests at the border in March, compared with about 71,000 in December. The announcement came the day Customs and Border Protection held an open house at a new tent-like migrant processing center in the border community of Yuma. It is the first of two planned in Arizona to help agents process and temporarily shelter a growing number of asylum seekers arriving at the border. A similar structure is opening later this month in Tucson. “If this administration isn’t going to do anything, then we will,” Ducey said. The governor’s office said $25 million will initially be set aside to help local and state law enforcement officers such as state troopers. Guard members could help with medical operations at detention centers, install and maintain border cameras, collect data from public safety cameras and analyze satellite imagery for current smuggling trends, the announcement said.