Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, signed an executive order Friday to send Arizona National Guard troops to the southern border. Last week she toured the border at Lukesville and said she was thinking about making the move.

When she toured the border and made a video for social media to document her trip, I wondered at the time why she had not already called on the troops to help with the chaos the Lukeville area was experiencing. Lukeville is an epicenter of illegal border crossings, and the situation is so bad that the legal port of entry there had to be closed. The Border Patrol agents who are stationed at the port of entry at Lukeville were pulled off there and sent to help process the illegal immigrants.

Hobbs pleaded to Biden and the Biden administration for help managing the lawlessness at the border. She asked for personnel and financial reimbursement. Nothing happened, as is typical for this administration. This week Senators Sinema (I-AZ) and Kelly (D-AZ), sent a letter to Biden asking for help that echoed the letter sent by Hobbs. The senators requested that Biden reassign the 243 National Guard members on federal active duty orders on the southern border to facilitate the reopening of the Lukeville Point of Entry. They also asked for financial support.

The executive order is the next step in Operation SECURE. Troops deployed will help DPS and local law enforcement agencies with border enforcement activities. Hobbs launched Operation SECURE to help bring order and secure the border.

Operation SECURE stands for safety, enforcement, coordination, and uniform response. The new border security office will mobilize additional state resources and serve as a coordination hub for border security operations. The goal of the office is to ensure local, state, and federal assets are being properly leveraged to maintain a humane and orderly border, according to a press release posted by Hobbs’ office. The office will be funded with $2 million from the American Rescue Plan Act.

Border states are left to fend for themselves. Texas Governor Abbott launched Operation Lone Star in March 2021 in response to the Biden border crisis. It quickly became apparent that Biden and DHS were not working as partners with Texas to secure the border. What is a border state governor to do? Requests for support and resources are ignored. Yet, when Texas does something to slow the flood of illegal immigrants crossing the border, Biden orders his DOJ to shut it down. The buoy border in the Rio Grande River is an example of that. The legal battle over that is ongoing. Governor Abbott vows to take it to the Supreme Court because a state has a right to protect itself.

The Biden border crisis is becoming a bipartisan issue. It should have been all along because it is a national security issue, but politics is politics. Biden is hellbent on keeping the border open. The problem for Democrats is that Americans are paying attention and noticing all the problems the open border creates. Every community is a border community in Biden’s America. Immigration is not usually an issue during presidential elections. It is this time. Securing the southern border is a hot-button topic for voters and it will be an important consideration in the 2024 presidential election. That is especially true if Trump is the Republican nominee. Voters remember that the border was as secured as possible during the Trump administration.

Hobbs noted the lack of cooperation from the Biden administration.

“Yet again, the federal government is refusing to do its job to secure our border and keep our communities safe,” said Governor Katie Hobbs. “With this Executive Order, I am taking action where the federal government won’t. But we can’t stand alone, Arizona needs resources and manpower to reopen the Lukeville crossing, manage the flow of migrants, and maintain a secure, orderly, and humane border. Despite continued requests for assistance, the Biden administration has refused to deliver desperately needed resources to Arizona’s border.”

Good luck, Governor Hobbs. We’ll see how cooperative Joe Biden and his DHS get as the election grows closer.