The Republican Governor of Massachusetts just blindsided Trump with surprise act of defiance

President Trump’s refusal to halt the separation of innocent refugee children from their families when the immigrants cross the border has resulted in a rift in his plans to send National Guard troops from states around the country to patrol the border.

Surprisingly, the first governor to reverse their decision to send their state’s National Guard to the border in reaction to the issue is a Republican, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker.

According to the Boston Globe, Governor Baker today announced the reversal of an earlier decision to provide assistance to the border patrol mission to protest the administration’s “cruel and inhumane” policy separating migrant children from their families.

Massachusetts was planning to deploy a UH-72 Lakota helicopter and two military analysts to the border where they would operate with members of the Arizona and New Mexico National Guards prior to today’s announcement.

“It’s cruel and inhumane, and I told the National Guard to hold steady and not go down to the border — period,’’ Baker said. “So we won’t be supporting that initiative unless they change their policy.”

“Border security is important. No one disputes that. But separating kids from their families is not,’’ Baker said. “They should change their policy. I’m hopeful with the voices that are coming out at this point and making that case that they’ll consider alternatives to deal with border security.”

The defection of a Republican governor from the Trump administration’s border patrol initiative, albeit one from a generally progressive New England state who is up for re-election this year, demonstrates what a political liability Trump’s heinous and immoral immigration policy has become. 

Governor Baker’s Democratic opponent in the upcoming election, Jay Gonzalez, said that the move shows that Baker “should have never offered our state’s resources to enforce Donald Trump’s inhumane immigration policy in the first place.”

“Trump’s actions at our borders make it clear that we cannot trust his administration, now or ever,” Gonzalez said in a statement. “It isn’t enough for Charlie Baker to say that he won’t send our resources to the border to help Trump ‘today.’ Governor Baker should be clear that Massachusetts will never be a partner to Donald Trump in enforcing his racist immigration policy.”

With all 47 Democrats and both independents in the Senate supporting the Keep Families Together Act to stop the abhorrent practice of family separation, the political pressure is on for Republican senators to choose between continuing to support the president’s evil immigration policies or risk the extensive political damage that will come if they oppose the bill.

With religious leaders universally condemning the policies as in direct opposition to their teachings despite the Bible verses spouted by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, public sentiment has quickly reached the outrage level. Every minute that Trump refuses to accept defeat and end what is essentially the kidnapping of children from their families damages the standing of Trump and the Republican Party in the eyes of morally conscious citizens in this country and further erodes the reputation of the United States around the world.

Hopefully, the governors of other states will follow Baker’s examples and pull their National Guard troops from the border patrol efforts to exert further pressure on the administration to return our immigration policies to where they were before Trump decided to arbitrarily institute this loathsome practice.

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Vinnie Longobardo

is the Managing Editor of Washington Press and a 35-year veteran of the TV, mobile, & internet industries, specializing in start-ups and the international media business. His passions are politics, music, and art.