Walker Voices Support For Sending Troops To US-Mexico Border, Calls Move ‘Aggressive’

Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker says he welcomes President Donald Trump’s move to deploy National Guard troops to the border with Mexico.

Walker sent a letter Monday to Democratic U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan voicing his support for what he called Trump’s “aggressive actions to secure our nation’s southern border.”

Pocan on Friday had written Walker to ask that he reject the call to send troops, calling Trump’s plan “grossly irresponsible.”

In the letter, Walker, who later Monday called Pocan’s letter “snarky,” cites examples of when former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama sent troops to the border to help fight the drug trade.

“Your position on this should be consistent on this no matter who’s in office, whether it’s a Democrat or Republican,” Walker said Monday afternoon in Green Bay. “For those of us who didn’t object when Barack Obama did it, then it’s certainly not political with the President of the United States doing it.”

Walker said he sees deploying National Guard troops to the border as a way to reduce access to illegal drugs.

“This is not the first president to do it. It’s not even the first Republican president to do it,” Walker said. “… We have a southern border that is not safe, that is not secure. Not only when it comes to drugs. You see human trafficking, some of the most horrific human trafficking is occurring on our southern border.”

Wisconsin has not yet sent any troops to the border or been asked to send any.

Editor’s Note: This story was last updated at 4:32 p.m. Monday, April 9, 2018 with additional comments from Walker.