Meeting comes as the Guard is activated to support Arizona’s border communities
PHOENIX – Arizona senior Senator Kyrsten Sinema met with the senior leadership of Arizona’s National Guard on Wednesday to discuss how to support the Guard’s mission protecting Arizona communities and to help secure the border.
“Today’s discussion allowed us to hear directly from Arizona’s National Guard leaders about their needs, and how we can further support the Guard’s mission at the border. We will continue working with leaders across Arizona to secure the border, keep Arizonans safe, and ensure migrants are treated fairly and humanely,” said Sinema.
During the meeting, Sinema spoke with the Arizona National Guard senior leadership on her workwith local stakeholders, state leaders, and federal partners to support their mission, and discussed ways she could further assist their efforts in keeping Arizonans safe and secure.
Sinema shared with the Guard how she has highlighted the F-16’s importance to Arizona and our national security to Senate leaders before the Senate debates the annual defense policy bill. Sinema further discussed the Arizona Air National Guard’s 161st Air Refueling Wing’s Sky Harbor Initiative, where negotiations over design to reconfigure Sky Harbor continue in place to better update terminals and increase the size of the Arizona National Guard base.
Sinema’s meeting with the Guard comes after her conversations with the Governor following his decision to send the Guard to the border. In April, Sinema and Arizona Senator Mark Kelly called on the administration to help address the crisis at the southern border by reimbursing the state of Arizona for this deployment, which supports logistics and security efforts.
Recently, Sinema led the first hearing of the Senate Subcommittee on Government Operations and Border Management as Chair, where she heard testimony from witnesses representing non-governmental organizations who are supporting the efforts in protecting our communities and treating all migrants fairly and humanely.
Leading the conversation on addressing the border crisis, Sinema also partnered with Republican Senator John Cornyn (Texas) to introduce the bicameral Bipartisan Border Solutions Act—legislation that improves the federal government’s response to the border crisis, reduces the impact on local border communities, ensures migrants are treated fairly and humanely, and improves management and security along the border.