As Tucson Faces Migrant Surge, Ciscomani Pushes for National Guard Deployment to Arizona

WASHINGTON – U.S. Congressman Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ-06) is urging Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to request the deployment of the Arizona National Guard to the state to support U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) efforts at the border. The push comes as the Tucson Border Sector faces the brunt of a surge in migrant traffic at the southern border. Full text of the letter is available here.

“[The] Tucson Sector is leading in encounters and our agents and officers are overrun and undermanned,” wrote Ciscomani in a letter to the agency. “The situation is far past a breaking point and those on the frontlines of this crisis are in need of immediate support.”

On Wednesday, it was reported that encounters at the southern border had reached nearly 10,000 migrants in a 24-hour period. In the Tucson Sector alone, daily numbers reached almost 3,000 encounters. CBP has had to close ports of entry and pause other operations, such as training activities and communication efforts, in order to reassign staff to combat the surge.

Ciscomani, the only naturalized citizen from Mexico in the House Republican Conference, has championed a number of border security efforts during his first year in office, introducing the following provisions:

• H.R. 5990, the Border Enforcement, Security, and Trade (BEST) Facilitation Act of 2023, a bipartisan bill aimed at strengthening security screenings at ports of entry, and 
• H.R. 5585, the Agent Raul Gonzalez Officer Safety Act, legislation to make failing to yield to law enforcement a federal crime in the 100-mile border region. 
• H.R. 3602, the Transnational Criminal Organization Illicit Spotter Prevention and Elimination Act, a bill that would increase punishments on individuals who aid cartel operations at the southern border.