Gavin Newsom Deploys Additional Border Guards at Crossing

(OurNationNews.com) Democratic California Gavin Newsom has increased the number of National Guard troops at the border between California and Mexico in an effort to strengthen the state government’s campaign against illegal drugs.

Newsom’s new initiative increased California’s National Guard, or CalGuard, troops to roughly 400 from the previous 155. The effort comes on the heels of record-breaking migrant encounters at the border, which include increased incidents of drug mules attempting to smuggle illegal drugs across the border.

In a statement, Newsom lauded the new initiative, saying he expects the additional CalGuard troop deployment at the border to make a “profound difference” in deterring illegal drugs from being smuggled into the U.S. through California. State officials reported seizing 5.8 million fentanyl pills through January to April this year – in April alone, law enforcement reported that it managed to intercept and confiscate 2.3 million fentanyl pills smugglers attempted to bring into the U.S. Fentanyl has become the drug of choice for many addicts, given its more extreme addictive nature, despite the fact that it is more deadly than other more conventional illegal substances. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that fentanyl, along with other synthetic opioids, were behind the bulk of drug overdose deaths in 2022.

However, Newsom’s new initiative was also met with condemnation from Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who accused the California governor of being a “hypocrite.” Andrew Mahaleris, a spokesperson for Governor Abbott’s office, said that Newsom is now being forced “to admit there’s a crisis at the border” and is now “pretending” to offer solutions for the problem. Mahaleris also touted the results of Texas’ much stricter approach to illegal migrant crossings, saying that illegal crossings in the Lone Star State have gone down by 74% while states such as California and Arizona, are actually seeing a jump of 33% in illegal crossings in their own territories.