Governors in Western states coping with a surge of illegal immigrants should treat the emergency like a natural disaster and call in the National Guard for help, radio talk host and former FEMA chief Michael Brown told
Newsmax TV on Wednesday.
"I know it's fraught with all sorts of political ramifications," Brown told "MidPoint" host Ed Berliner during Wednesday's edition of "Around the Dial," a segment featuring local radio hosts.
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"But if we're going to argue that the governors truly are in charge of their states," said Brown, "this is a chance for them to stand up and kind of draw that proverbial line in the sand with the feds."
Brown called out two Republican governors by name, Rick Perry of Texas and Susana Martinez of New Mexico, asking, "Why don't they call up the National Guard with this influx and why don't they take control of this situation?"
"If this were a natural disaster, what would they do?" he asked.
Brown, based in Denver, Colo., said illegal immigration and an increasingly unmanageable southern U.S. border are also causing problems for states that don't abut Mexico.
"We've had murders here. We've had drive-by shootings here. The drug cartels are very active in Colorado," said Brown.
Brown also discussed what he sees as a changing political climate in Colorado, with gun ownership as the issue that is energizing communities to challenge new statewide restrictions on firearms.
"We're finally seeing some push-back in Colorado from what the progressive Democrats have done," he said.
"They've controlled the legislature and the governor's office for two years and four years, respectively, now, and people are kind of getting fed up with it. They see what's happening at the national level now happening at the state level, and most Coloradans are saying. 'You know what? We want to be left alone.' "
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