Governors pull National Guard from US-Mexico border over immigration policy

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — East Coast governors from both parties are refusing to deploy National Guard resources to the U.S.-Mexico border in protest of a federal immigration policy that is separating children from their families.

Some of the states have no more than a handful of resources committed. The move is significant politically, however.

Mileah Kromer is director of the Sarah T. Hughes field Politics Center at Goucher College in Towson, Maryland. She says the action is an interesting example of governors stepping into a role of national leadership on a divisive issue.

Maryland's and Massachusetts' Republican governors say they are pulling back or won't send resources until the policy instituted by President Donald Trump's administration is rescinded. Democratic governors in Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Virginia have declared the same policy. Massachusetts and New York made their announcements Monday; the other states on Tuesday.