BORDER/CALIFORNIA/MEXICO/MILITARY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “California officials rejected President Donald Trump’s request for National Guard troops to help secure the U.S. border with Mexico, federal officials said Monday [4-16-18]. Robert G. Salesses, a Defense Department official working on the deployment plan, said California officials turned down a Border Patrol request for about 237 troops to help with tasks such as operational support, vehicle maintenance, radio communications, planning, clerical work and manning surveillance cameras. California officials said Monday they have not rejected the administration’s request, but won’t commit troops until its deployment terms are agreed to. Last week California Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, said he would send 400 state troops to join the effort but that their work would be limited to combating ‘transnational crime,’ as state guard troops have done in the past. Mr. Brown said he wouldn’t allow troops to help build a barrier at the border or enforce federal immigration laws or support immigration enforcement. He sent the government an agreement detailing those limitations.”
-Alicia A. Caldwell and Laura Meckler, “California Rejected Request for Guard Troops to Help Secure Border, U.S. Officials Say,” The Wall Street Journal, April 17, 2018 9:06 am