Gov. John Hickenlooper will not send Colorado National Guard troops to the border, if asked, because of his concerns about the Trump administration’s practices of separating families.
Hickenlooper’s office says the Colorado Guard will have to comply with the executive order he signed Monday that bans state officials from separating families from children on the sole basis of immigration.
No Colorado troops are on the border, nor have they yet been requested.
Hickenlooper said in April he would consider requests from the Trump administration to help on the southern border. Other governors have also said they will not send their states' National Guard troops to the border, NPR reported:
"Until this policy of separating children from their families has been rescinded, Maryland will not deploy any National Guard resources to the border," Gov. Larry Hogan tweeted Tuesday. He said he called back four crew members and a helicopter that were stationed in New Mexico. ...Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam ordered four soldiers and one helicopter to return from Arizona "until the federal government ends its enforcement of a zero-tolerance policy that separates children from their parents."
Also on Tuesday, Sen. Cory Gardner has signed onto a letter with a handful of other Republicans urging Attorney General Jeff Sessions to halt the family separation policy.
The lawmakers blame the administration's zero tolerance policy for the separations -- they asked that it be suspended until Congress passes a bill to speed up processing of families who attempt to enter the country illegally. The letter says separating families is inconsistent to “ordinary human decency.”
