Four US states refuse to deploy National Guard to border amid outcry

Four US states are refusing to deploy National Guard troops to the US-Mexico border, amid a growing outcry over the controversial decision by President Donald Trump's administration to separate the children of illegal migrants from their parents.

The Democratic governors of Colorado and New York and the Republican governors of Maryland and Massachusetts all said they would not send members of their state's National Guard units for border duty.

"We will not be complicit in this ongoing human tragedy," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, said today.

"In the face of the federal government's inhumane treatment of immigrant families, New York will not deploy National Guard to the border," Cuomo said on Twitter.

Larry Hogan, the Republican governor of Maryland, said he will not send any National Guard resources to the border "until this policy of separating children from their families has been rescinded." Hogan said he had ordered a four-member helicopter crew which had been stationed in the border state of New Mexico to "immediately return" home.

"Immigration enforcement efforts should focus on criminals, not separating innocent children from their families," Hogan said.

John Hickenlooper, the Democratic governor of Colorado, signed an executive order yesterday that forbids the use of state resources "for the purpose of separating any child from his or her parent or legal guardian," a practice he called "cruel and un-American."