California will deploy 400 members of the National Guard in response to President Trump's request for military action at the southern border, Gov. Jerry Brown (D) announced Wednesday. The deployment, however, will not go toward immigration enforcement.
"This will not be a mission to build a new wall. It will not be a mission to round up women and children or detain people escaping violence and seeking a better life," Brown said Wednesday in a statement. Rather, California's governor has agreed to accept federal funding for increased National Guard presence in order to focus on halting human trafficking and the smuggling of drugs and firearms into the state.
Brown has frequently clashed with the Trump administration over immigration enforcement strategies, and he specifically stated Wednesday that "the California National Guard will not be enforcing federal immigration laws." Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been especially frustrated with Brown's rejection of increased Immigration and Customs Enforcement efforts, announcing last month that the Department of Justice would sue California for "intentionally obstructing" ICE.
When Trump called for increased military presence in border states, Arizona and Texas quickly jumped on board while California delayed its response. The Department of Homeland Security stated that the National Guard would not be deployed for direct immigration enforcement such as arrests, but for border surveillance and general support. Summer Meza
British Prime Minister Theresa May on Sunday pushed back on calls for a second referendum on Brexit, the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union.
May particularly condemned remarks from former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who said this week a new vote should be considered if "none of the other options work." May accused Blair of "seek[ing] to undermine our negotiations by advocating for a second referendum," arguing "Parliament has a democratic duty to deliver what the British people voted for."
May's proposed Brexit deal with the EU has stalled, lacking support to pass a House of Commons vote. Bonnie Kristian
The North Korean government on Sunday issued a typically dramatic statement condemning the United States' sanction regime and suggesting denuclearization plans are in jeopardy.
Pyongyang accused the U.S. State Department of being "bent on bringing [North Korea]-U.S. relations back to the status of last year which was marked by exchanges of fire," warning that additional U.S. sanctions would be America's "greatest miscalculation" and would "block the path to denuclearization on the Korean peninsula forever."
This comes as Pyongyang observes the seventh anniversary of the death of former leader Kim Jong Il and the rise to power of his son, current leader Kim Jong Un. Bonnie Kristian
Negotiators representing nearly 200 nations in Katowice, Poland, on Saturday agreed to universal greenhouse gas emissions limits intended to mitigate global climate change.
"It is not easy to find agreement on a deal so specific and technical," said Polish economist Michal Kurtyka, who is leading the United Nations negotiations. "Through this package you have made a thousand little steps forward together," he told the assembled delegates. "You can feel proud."
U.S. negotiators sought to label coal a possible source of clean energy but also pushed for transparency and rules which apply equally to all participant nations. "Overall, the U.S. role here has been somewhat schizophrenic — pushing coal and dissing science on the one hand, but also working hard in the room for strong transparency rules," Elliot Diringer of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions told The Associated Press. "[T]he U.S. pushed harder than nearly anyone else for transparency rules that put all countries under the same system, and it's largely succeeded." Bonnie Kristian
