Rep. Baldeh Denounces GOP Debate on “Troops on the Border” Resolution

February 21, 2024

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE         

Contact: Rep. Samba Baldeh

PHONE: (608) 237-9148

EMAIL: Rep.baldeh@legis.wisconsin.gov

                                                                                                                           

Rep. Baldeh Denounces GOP Debate on “Troops on the Border” Resolution

Representative Samba Baldeh (D-Madison) strongly criticized both the proposal and the terms of the debate on a GOP-sponsored resolution, SJR 117 that requested that the Governor send Wisconsin National Guard troops to the US-Mexico border.

 

Had Representative Baldeh been given an opportunity to address the Assembly on this issue, he would have said:

 

  • Protecting our borders is a federal issue. We have close to 20,000 Immigration and Customs officials and hundreds of federal troops at the border. One thousand federal troops were sent home because they do not know what to do and were not trained to be border police.
  • States should not pass laws or decide how the border should be protected. They cannot build new barriers such as placing razor wire at crossing points or establish new standards for questioning or detaining migrants.
  • The role of the Wisconsin Guard is to assist the state during times of crisis or disaster. If the tornado in Rock and Green Counties had been more powerful or hit a more densely populated area we would have needed hundreds of Guard personnel to assist those communities. Had this resolution been in effect, would they instead be standing around somewhere in Arizona or New Mexico?
  • The strategy of sending state Guard troops has become a gimmick of many Republican governors who have sent their Guard troops to the border without a plan or training. In addition to the Immigration and Customs agents and federal troops there are now 14 separate state unit deployments operating in this area.

 

Rep. Baldeh, who immigrated to the US decades ago from The Gambia in West Africa, commented on the terms of debate used by some members of the Assembly GOP:

 

  • It was disheartening to hear my colleagues denigrate the migrants crossing the southern border with terms such as “illegals.”
  • While they did not stoop to the use of terms such as “poisoning our blood”, the phrase “illegals” removes the humanity of the individual men, women and children who are actually migrants.
  • The GOP spokespersons for this measure are unaware that the vast majority of the migrants are seeking asylum- a status protected by federal and international law. Their status as refugees seeking asylum has not been settled and they should not be prejudged as “guilty.”

 

The proposal, SJR 117, passed by a vote of 63-35 on a party-line vote.

 

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