New Mexico’s Bishops: Trump immigration draft ‘act of war’

New Mexico’s Catholic Bishops say a Trump administration proposal to use National Guard troops to round up immigrants would be a “declaration of some form of war.”

Allen Sanchez, executive director of the New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Friday the Roman Catholic Church in the nation’s most Hispanic state would strongly oppose any effort to use National Guard troops to find and deport immigrants.

AP Exclusive: DHS weighed Nat Guard for immigration roundups

He says using the National Guard on a peaceful population would be like declaring a war within the U.S. borders.

A draft memo obtained by The Associated Press outlines a Trump administration proposal under consideration to mobilize as many as 100,000 National Guard troops to round up unauthorized immigrants. Millions of those who would be affected in 11 states live nowhere near the Mexico border.

ABC-7’s New Mexico Mobile Newsroom obtained a statement from the National Guard in New Mexico: “The NM National Guard has not heard or been informed on President Trump’s intentions to use guardsmen to apprehend undocumented immigrants.”

New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez says she has not seen a Trump administration proposal to mobilize as many as 100,000 National Guard troops in 11 states to round up unauthorized immigrants.

Chris Sanchez, a spokesman for Martinez, said the Trump administration did not share the draft memo with the nation’s only Latina governor.

Santa Fe Archbishop John Wester says a Trump administration proposal to mobilize National Guard troops to round up unauthorized immigrants is “immoral.”

Wester told The Associated Press on Friday that he also couldn’t imagine National Guard troops in New Mexico taking part in such missions aimed at their families, friends and neighbors.

A DHS official described the document as an early draft that was not seriously considered.