our top story on KPBS Mid-day edition is Governor Brown wants it in writing, he's asking the Trump administration for men around him -- memorandum showing what will happen at the border patrol. The guard troops will need to know what they will be doing at the border. President Donald Trump tweeted that they are not looking for safety and he wrote the much wanted wall is already started. Joining me is Ben Adler, welcome. >> Good to be with you. >> It seemed like Governor Brown and President Donald Trump were on the same page, what happened? >> In all honesty, I'm not entirely sure that anything changed over the weekend. This is been a bizarre last 24 hours and the different sides talked past each other. Also, a larger truth is getting over shattered -- shadowed by social media reactions. California is not participating in this initial round of National Guard troops to the border. California has been in negotiations with the federal government for terms under which California can deploy troops to the border and elsewhere in the state, not for immigration enforcement, but to bolster efforts to fight transnational crime including human trafficking, gun cartels, smuggling and the like. I'm not sure anything has changed, last week the governor submitted a memorandum of agreement wanting the terms laid out in writing. Now, we are awaiting the Trump administration signatures. >> There were some reports that the guard would have problems in perhaps fixing a vehicle or getting gas or repairing radio whilst -- wires. The question was what did that have to do with being held in immigration enforcement? >> I think it is unclear, the terms of the other troops deployments are and I do not think it is directly connected to the efforts. When Brown submitted the memorandum of agreement last week, he had several conversations directly with homeland security director and the National Guard in California. They have all been communicating with National Guard headquarters in DC and they are aware of the mission and what it would be. Brown's of this morning California is ready to go. The governors of the other states have a different political party and so it is easier for them to politically agree. Jerry Brown is probably never going to agree to that specifically, but instead he did come up with a proposal in his mind and and the eyes of homeland security, would help with border security and that it seeks to come back to the transnational crime. California will get this extra money to bolster the guard to claimant. We need to see if it ends up going through or if politics intervene. >> Do we know if other border state governors haven't written rules of engagement for guard troops on their borders? >> I think that it is precisely a good question. I've asked for those rules for the National Guard and have not gotten them. I think that is precisely the perfect questions ask. I have also been trying to come up with rules of engagement for the past two California National Guard Clements in 2006 and two and 10. I have not been able to come up with them yet, it is possible that they were considered confidential because the MOE that Jerry Brown put out was marked not confidential. This might be because Jerry Brown might want to publicly stated what his troops will and will not be doing and maybe the politics and policy was different in those previous errors of 2016. >> The governor was speaking this morning. Here's what he had to say. >> I think we can find common understanding here and there is enough problems about the border in the interface between the countries that California will have plenty to do. We are willing to do it. >> The governor is saying nothing to see here, it is all under control. >> Yes, he is certainly not confronting President Donald Trump on this. He will gladly confront the efforts of climate change, but on this issue he has been careful and cautious. He was measured this morning when he spoke in DC, he thanked the president for the tweet that thanked him last week. He did not take the opportunity to counteract the president. He said I think we will get there, just bureaucratic things going on that they need to address. He declined to attack back and he just said look I think we will get there and we have mostly agreed to the terms, we are just waiting for the their administration to sign off on it. Whether the presidents trump -- whether the presidents tweet this morning was a reaction to news coverage, or what, I'm not certain -- the right person to ask. We will see if the presidents opinion changes and if the deployment mood disorder not. >> I have been speaking with Ben Adler, think you.
our top story on KPBS Mid-day edition is Governor Brown wants it in writing, he's asking the Trump administration for men around him -- memorandum showing what will happen at the border patrol. The guard troops will need to know what they will be doing at the border. President Donald Trump tweeted that they are not looking for safety and he wrote the much wanted wall is already started. Joining me is Ben Adler, welcome. >> Good to be with you. >> It seemed like Governor Brown and President Donald Trump were on the same page, what happened? >> In all honesty, I'm not entirely sure that anything changed over the weekend. This is been a bizarre last 24 hours and the different sides talked past each other. Also, a larger truth is getting over shattered -- shadowed by social media reactions. California is not participating in this initial round of National Guard troops to the border. California has been in negotiations with the federal government for terms under which California can deploy troops to the border and elsewhere in the state, not for immigration enforcement, but to bolster efforts to fight transnational crime including human trafficking, gun cartels, smuggling and the like. I'm not sure anything has changed, last week the governor submitted a memorandum of agreement wanting the terms laid out in writing. Now, we are awaiting the Trump administration signatures. >> There were some reports that the guard would have problems in perhaps fixing a vehicle or getting gas or repairing radio whilst -- wires. The question was what did that have to do with being held in immigration enforcement? >> I think it is unclear, the terms of the other troops deployments are and I do not think it is directly connected to the efforts. When Brown submitted the memorandum of agreement last week, he had several conversations directly with homeland security director and the National Guard in California. They have all been communicating with National Guard headquarters in DC and they are aware of the mission and what it would be. Brown's of this morning California is ready to go. The governors of the other states have a different political party and so it is easier for them to politically agree. Jerry Brown is probably never going to agree to that specifically, but instead he did come up with a proposal in his mind and and the eyes of homeland security, would help with border security and that it seeks to come back to the transnational crime. California will get this extra money to bolster the guard to claimant. We need to see if it ends up going through or if politics intervene. >> Do we know if other border state governors haven't written rules of engagement for guard troops on their borders? >> I think that it is precisely a good question. I've asked for those rules for the National Guard and have not gotten them. I think that is precisely the perfect questions ask. I have also been trying to come up with rules of engagement for the past two California National Guard Clements in 2006 and two and 10. I have not been able to come up with them yet, it is possible that they were considered confidential because the MOE that Jerry Brown put out was marked not confidential. This might be because Jerry Brown might want to publicly stated what his troops will and will not be doing and maybe the politics and policy was different in those previous errors of 2016. >> The governor was speaking this morning. Here's what he had to say. >> I think we can find common understanding here and there is enough problems about the border in the interface between the countries that California will have plenty to do. We are willing to do it. >> The governor is saying nothing to see here, it is all under control. >> Yes, he is certainly not confronting President Donald Trump on this. He will gladly confront the efforts of climate change, but on this issue he has been careful and cautious. He was measured this morning when he spoke in DC, he thanked the president for the tweet that thanked him last week. He did not take the opportunity to counteract the president. He said I think we will get there, just bureaucratic things going on that they need to address. He declined to attack back and he just said look I think we will get there and we have mostly agreed to the terms, we are just waiting for the their administration to sign off on it. Whether the presidents trump -- whether the presidents tweet this morning was a reaction to news coverage, or what, I'm not certain -- the right person to ask. We will see if the presidents opinion changes and if the deployment mood disorder not. >> I have been speaking with Ben Adler, think you.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday slammed California Gov. Jerry Brown's posture on sending National Guard troops to the Mexican border even as Brown said he was nearing agreement on joining the president's mission.
The volley of words came a day after federal officials said Brown rejected a proposal for the California Guard's specific border duties, a characterization that state officials disputed.
"Looks like Jerry Brown and California are not looking for safety and security along their very porous Border," Trump said in an early-morning tweet. "He cannot come to terms for the National Guard to patrol and protect the Border."
Brown's office responded with a tweet reiterating its public stance that nothing has changed since the governor pledged 400 troops last week and that the state was waiting on a response to proposed contract that would include a ban on any activities related to immigration enforcement.
RELATED: California And Pentagon Still At Odds Over Guard Deployment
The Democratic governor said California was "pretty close" to an agreement with the administration to join the nation's three other Mexican border states — Arizona, New Mexico and Texas — for the Guard's third large-scale border deployment since 2006.
Brown expressed strong interest in work against drug and gun smuggling and human trafficking, noting that the California Guard already had about 50 troops near the border on such efforts.
"It is a very logical next step to add a couple hundred more, or more than that, and the Guard is chomping at the bit ready to go and so, I think we'll get there," Brown told reporters at the National Press Club in Washington.
The Republican governors of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas have openly embraced the administration's plans and specific jobs for their troops, along with Trump's premise to fight illegal immigration and drugs. Troops from Texas are already doing aerial and ground surveillance to assist the Border Patrol. The Arizona National Guard said last week that its troops will provide air and ground support.
Brown has conditioned his contribution of 400 troops on avoiding any immigration work, even in a supporting role. Talks with the federal government on what specific jobs that would entail are ongoing. It is unclear how troops would distinguish work related on immigration from drug smuggling and other crimes.
Ronald Vitiello, U.S. Customs and Border Protection's acting deputy commissioner, said Monday that Brown rejected terms of an initial troop rollout that was similar to plans for Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. But Vitiello emphasized that California may contribute in other ways must still be worked out. Robert Salesses, the Defense Department's deputy assistant secretary for homeland defense integration, said the initial phase had called for 237 California troops.
According to two U.S. officials, the federal government's initial rollout of National Guard member border duties includes 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. The officials spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.
Brown elicited rare and effusive praise from Trump last week when he pledged 400 troops, which helped put the president above the lower end of his threshold of marshaling 2,000 to 4,000 troops for his border mission. The governor cast his decision as a welcome infusion of support paid for by the U.S. government to fight transnational criminal gangs and drug and firearms smugglers.
The Guard had about 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.
