Gov. Paul LePage said Wednesday that he’s willing to deploy the Maine National Guard to the southern border, breaking with other Republican governors in New England who’ve said they would withhold troops over the Trump administration’s policy of s eparating children from their migrant parents.
If the president asks, LePage said he would “absolutely” send troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, saying that he supports immigrants coming to the country but wants them to enter through legal channels.
The statements from LePage, a longtime Trump supporter, stand in contrast to a bipartisan backlash to the administration’s so-called zero tolerance policy, which seeks to prosecute anyone who crosses the southern border illegally.
The governor appeared to downplay concerns with the policy — which has led border agents to separate more than 2,000 children from their parents — even as the president is reportedly backing away from it.
To read the rest of “LePage says he would send Maine troops to border amid backlash over family separations,” an article by contributing Bangor Daily News staff writer Jake Bleiberg, please follow this link to the BDN online.
