US governors announce they will withhold state help at border amid immigrant family separation controversy

The governors include two democrats and one republican

An immigration detainee stands in a detention facility (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)

Several American governors have announced that they will move to keep state resources from helping to support President Donald Trump’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policies that have resulted in thousands of children being taken from their parents after entering the United States.

The governors of Massachusetts, New York, and Colorado have all announced that they will suspend either state resources or their state’s national guard forces from helping to enforce the controversial policies, which have resulted in at least 2,000 children being taken from their parents after crossing the border, according to reports.

Of those, one governor — Charlie Baker, of Massachusetts — is a Republican, while the other two — Andrew Cuomo, of New York, and John Hickenlooper, of Colorado — are Democrats.

“Governor Baker directed the National Guard not to send any assets or personnel to the Southwest border today because the federal government’s current actions are resulting in the inhumane treatment of children,” Mr Baker’s communications director said Monday, according to local media.

Mr Baker’s government had announced earlier in the month that its national guard would be deployed along the US’ southwestern border in response to an influx of migrants arriving on the border, many of them seeking asylum from violent and dangerous conditions in their home states.

Of these three states, however, only New York has a land-based border, with Canada. Mr Cuomo indicated in a statement that the state’s forces would not participate in the Trump administration’s response to the crisis along the border — which has resulted in stark imagery of children in cages in facilities in Texas.

Mr Hickenlooper, for his part, signed an executive order barring state resources from going towards helping the Trump administration’s efforts at the border, which have resulted in family separations in large part because immigration enforcement must criminally prosecute immigrants arriving at the US border illegally — even if they present credible fear arguments, and ask for asylum.

US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristjen Nielsen has insisted that US border policy does not lead to criminal prosecutions of individuals who arrive at US border points of entry, and only applies to individuals crossing the border along other parts of the border.

The administration, in general, has argued that these immigration policies are necessary to deter an influx of immigrants, and that the policies only serve to enforce existing US laws — and that Congress should reform the laws if they would like to see different treatment of arriving immigrants.