President Donald Trump will "absolutely" move forward with initially sending as many as 4,000 National Guard troops to the southern border — despite California's reticence — and he'll send "as many as it takes" as soon as possible, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Friday.
"They'll continue moving forward with the other border states, working with states' governors right now to go through this process," Sanders told reporters at the daily briefing.
"We hope to have National Guard on the ground as soon as possible — and we're going to continue to work with California.
"We're hopeful that they'll do the right thing and help protect our borders," she said.
California officials have been cautious in its response to Trump's remarks aboard Air Force One Thursday that he would send 2,000 to 4,000 troops to the border with Mexico.
The Golden State became a sanctuary jurisdiction on Jan. 1. The Justice Department has sued to stop the law, and several California municipalities have joined in the federal court action.
California National Guard. Lt. Col. Tom Keegan said Thursday that Trump's request, which he officially signed in a memorandum on Wednesday, "will be promptly reviewed to determine how best we can assist our federal partners.
"We look forward to more detail, including funding, duration and end state," Keegan said.
Sanders could not say specifically when the troops would be deployed, "but as soon as possible.
"It's going to be as many as it takes.
"We're looking at what that needs to be — and we'll move forward in the process," she said.
"The president thinks it's a good step to have 2,000 to 4,000," Sanders added. "If it's determined we need more, we'll make that decision at that time."
Sanders also explained Trump's comments Thursday in West Virginia that women were being raped "at levels that nobody has ever seen before" in a migrant caravan with Hondurans traveling from Central America to seek asylum in the United States.
She referenced an article in The Los Angeles Times that "came out yesterday" — but in a 2015 CNN interview shortly after announcing his candidacy, Trump referenced a report by Fusion detailing the dangers migrant women face from smugglers in trying to reach the U.S., most often rape.
"If you go to Fusion, you will see a story about 80 percent of the women coming in, you have to take a look at these stories," Trump told anchor Don Lemon in July 2015. "Somebody is doing the raping."
The Fusion report was published in December 2014.
The Guardian also published an op-ed in August 2014 by a university professor who volunteered as a translator for migrant women who had been abused or raped in their quest to get to the United States.
"This is a well-documented fact, that a lot of the women — I believe, up to 80 percent in recent years — who are making that journey have been raped," Sanders told reporters.
"The president is saying that's simply unacceptable and it is something that should be looked at."
Asked what the National Guard would do should any migrants eventually reach the U.S. border, Sanders responded that the U.S. Border Patrol would be "the lead law enforcement on the ground, with National Guard backing them up and supplementing them.
"Thankfully, the Mexican government, in conjunction with our team and this administration, has broken up a lot of that and is continuing to do so," she said.
Organizers of the caravan, People Without Borders, officially abandoned the effort on Wednesday in Mexico City.
Mexican officials had returned many Hondurans to Central America — and U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen announced that day that Trump had ordered the troops to the border.
President Trump also threatened to kill the North American Free-Trade Agreement if Mexico did not stop the migrants.
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