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California governor to pull National Guard troops from border

Posted at 12:35 PM, Feb 11, 2019
and last updated 2019-02-11 12:35:06-05

California's governor is getting ready to withdraw all of the state's National Guard troops from the U.S.-Mexico border.

Gov. Gavin Newsom will reportedly announce plans Monday to remove roughly 360 National Guard members from the border. They'll be redeployed to fight fires and gather information on drug cartels.

According to excerpts of a speech released by his office, Newsom is expected to say: "The border 'emergency' is a manufactured crisis, and California will not be part of this political theater."

Last week , New Mexico's governor made a similar decision. She withdrew most of her state's National Guard members from the border.

Back in April, President Donald Trump approved the deployment of up to 4,000 National Guard troops to the border in California, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas. Without California and New Mexico's forces, only just over 1,700 troops would be left in Texas and Arizona.

Before Newsom's move, California's troops were scheduled to remain at the border through March of this year.