Democratic Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego adamantly opposes President Donald Trump’s plan to send National Guard troops to the southern border, telling CNN Thursday that he’d “gladly work with this president when his ideas aren’t stupid and detrimental to the United States.”
Gallego, a veteran of the United States Marine Corps, claimed that the decision to deploy the National Guard had not been planned well and that it was a move calculated to throw “red meat to his base” and buoy what he twice called a “failing presidency.”
“I will gladly work with the President when his ideas aren’t stupid and detrimental to the United States,” says Rep. Ruben Gallego on his opposition to Trump sending troops to the Mexican border https://t.co/HSkgdbUbuk pic.twitter.com/HyMiitVd8T
— CNN (@CNN) April 5, 2018
Gallego went on to accuse the Trump administration of deploying the National Guard to “solve a political problem,” claiming that if the president had been more willing to make a deal on DACA, there would be sufficient resources at the border without activating troops.
.@RepRubenGallego: The fact is – the president lost. He wasn’t able to get his border wall. Congress tried to give him a deal, but he and his advisers don’t know how to take a deal. #AMR
— Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) April 5, 2018
Homeland Security Chief Kirstjen Nielsen disputed claims that the move was not well-planned on Wednesday, explaining to the press that the plan had been under consideration for some time and implemented swiftly due to the increase in traffic flowing toward the border.