Gov. Gavin Newsom of California is facing fire for claims he made about the state’s National Guard defense of the southern border, with critics alleging that his claims that California has doubled the number of National Guard troopers at the southern border is a claim Gov. Newsom made the National Guard claim when speaking in a video taken while he was at the California-Mexico border.
That video came on Thursday, May 13, when Gov. Newsom was at the San Ysidro Port of Entry along the California-Mexico border, south of San Diego and north of Tijuana. Gov. Newsom claimed, in the video, to have been meeting with National Guard troopers and Customs and Border Patrol agents, alongside his team, to discuss border security.
In the video, he claimed to have deployed nearly 400 National Guardsmen to defend the border and try to keep out fentanyl, saying, “We have 390 National Guardsmen and women that have been working, particularly as it relates to fentanyl, here in the state of California. Look, at the bottom line at the end of the day, they need more resources.”
Continuing, he then alleged that really Republicans are to blame for the border crisis, saying, “Everybody needs more resources, and the Republican Party has been consistently standing in the way of providing the resources to support the men and women working hard, not only here at the border, but throughout the state of California and this country, to address the issues related to the border.”
Captioning the video, Newsom alleged that the state had doubled its National Guard border deployment despite Speaker Johnson, saying, “California has doubled our National Guard at the border that are working to stop the flow of fentanyl. While the GOP play games and Mike Johnson searches for his spine — we’re out here doing the work.”
Watch him here:
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Predictably, Gov. Newsom got roasted for his claims. “I sent Gov. Newsom’s below post to a BP agent in Jacumba, who responded by laughing & telling me CA ‘isn’t doing s—’ to help them with illegal crossings there, and any soldiers that they see there are National Guard from other states working w/ DHS under federal Title 10 order,” said Fox News national correspondent Bill Melugin.
Continuing, Melugin argued that Newsom has no proof for his claims, claiming, “He said CA soldiers are helping with drug interdiction at ports of entry – not the mass crossing hot spots in Jacumba. If the Governor’s office has any images of CA National Guard helping Border Patrol in Jacumba, I’m happy to update.”
Melugin also argued that, while at the California-Mexico border, he saw no National Guardsmen, saying, “We’re at the CA border right now in Jacumba, Governor Newsom. We see migrants illegally crossing all hours of the day. From China, Iran, Yemen. Nepal. Haven’t seen a single CA National Guard over the past week.”