The United States' southern border needs to be secured and sending the National Guard to help with that is a step in the right direction, former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik told Newsmax TV.
Kerik appeared on Thursday's "Newsmax Now" and told host John Bachman he is glad President Donald Trump decided to dispatch troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to help stop the flow of illegal immigration and drugs.
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"There's no more important of a job for the president of the United States than the security of this sovereign republic – and he knows that, he gets it, he understands it," Kerik said. "And whether it's the wall, whether it's technology, no matter what it is, we need to make sure the border is secure. The National Guard, I think, is a great tool to start that."
Kerik and Bachman later fielded a question from a caller about whether the National Guard has the authority to carry a weapon on U.S. soil.
Kerik reverted back to his days of leading the NYPD.
"It depends on their mission, it depends on what they're doing there, it depends on who dispatches them," Kerik said. "If you go up to Grand Central Station in New York City, you have National Guard troops inside Grand Central, and they are fully armed. So, it depends on what their mission calls for."
Trump's directive to send troops to the border has received some pushback from the left, which includes Oregon Gov. Kate Brown. She vowed Thursday to defy any order to send troops from her state.
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