SAN DIEGO -- President Donald Trump's administration said Monday that California Gov. Jerry Brown rejected terms of the National Guard's initial deployment to the Mexican border, but a state official said nothing was decided.
"The governor determined that what we asked for is unsupportable, but we will have other iterations," Ronald Vitiello, U.S. Customs and Border Protection's acting deputy commissioner, told reporters in Washington.
Brown, a Democrat, elicited rare praise from Trump last week for pledging 400 troops to the Guard's third large-scale border mission since 2006.
But Brown conditioned his commitment on troops having nothing to do with immigration enforcement, even in a supporting role. The Democratic governor cast his decision as support for an infusion of federal resources to fight transnational criminal gangs.
Brown's announcement last week did not address what specific jobs the California Guard would and would not do and how state officials would distinguish work related to immigration from other aspects of border enforcement, such as fighting criminal gangs and drug and gun smuggling.
Vitiello said the governor decided that California will not accept terms of an initial troop rollout for the state that was similar to plans for the other three border states, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. He said California may participate in other ways that must still be worked out.
"We are anticipating additional requirements, and we got a signal from California that they are interested in improving border security," Vitiello said. "So, at some point that might come together."
According to two U.S. officials, the initial jobs for troops include fixing and maintaining vehicles, using remote-control surveillance cameras to report suspicious activity to U.S. Border Patrol agents, operating radios and providing "mission support," which can include clerical work, buying gas and handling payrolls. California National Guard members have done such work in previous border deployments. The officials spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.
However, California National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Thomas Keegan said "state officials have not rejected anything" since Brown proposed a formal agreement Wednesday with the Homeland Security and Defense Departments that prohibits any involvement in immigration.
[U.S. immigration: Data visualization of selected immigration statistics, U.S. border map]
"The federal government has not yet responded," Keegan said in an emailed statement.
Homeland Security Department spokesman Tyler Houlton said the federal government was committed to working with Brown and that the California leader shares an interest in a secure border with Mexico.
Robert Salesses, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense integration, said the administration wanted 237 troops for work in two parts of the state that California "has indicated they will not perform."
Republican governors from Arizona, New Mexico and Texas have openly embraced the Trump administration's plans and specific jobs for their troops, as California did in previous Guard deployments. Texas National Guard members are already doing aerial and ground surveillance. The Arizona National Guard said last week that its troops will provide air and ground support.
The Guard had more than 900 troops working on the border mission Monday, a number that changes daily, said Lt. General Daniel R. Hokanson, the National Guard Bureau's vice chief. Nearly 250 were in Arizona, more than 60 in New Mexico and about 650 in Texas.
A Section on 04/17/2018