NH Governor Refuses To Send Troops To Border For Child Separation

CONCORD, NH — New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu this week said he will not send Granite State troops to the Mexican border after a controversy over child separation. Since May, more than 2,300 Mexican children have been detained and separated from their parents along the U.S.-Mexico border, according to the Associated Press.

"I will not send our New Hampshire troops to the southern border to separate families," Sununu said in a statement to WMUR.

President Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order halting the separation of children from their parents detained along the Mexican border.

"We want security for our country," Trump said during a news conference. "At the same time we have compassion. We want to keep families together."

New Hampshire U.S. Representative Annie Kuster traveled to the Mexican border Friday to observe conditions.

"It’s unconscionable to separate children from their parents immediately upon entry into the United States," Kuster said in a statement. "Many of these families are seeking asylum after fleeing terrible violence in their home countries. Ripping children from their families only serves to further traumatize these young people who have already undergone tremendous hardship."

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker this week recalled a National Guard helicopter crew amid the controversy.

"The federal government's current actions are resulting in the inhumane treatment of children," a Baker spokeswoman told Patch.

Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo also refused to send troops to the southern border.

Related:

• Massachusetts Governor Stops Border Help Over Child Separation
• Trump Signs Order To End Border Family Separation Policy

Jenna Fisher, Patch Staff contributed to this report

Photo: A two-year-old Honduran asylum seeker cries as her mother is searched and detained near the U.S.-Mexico border on June 12, 2018 in McAllen, Texas. The asylum seekers had rafted across the Rio Grande from Mexico and were detained by U.S. Border Patrol agents before being sent to a processing center for possible separation. (Credit: John Moore/Getty Images)