Rep. Ruben Gallego Ruben GallegoHispanic caucus report takes stock of accomplishments with eye toward 2021 Senators call on Pentagon to reinstate funding for Stars and Stripes newspaper Hispanic Caucus campaign chief to mount leadership bid MORE (D-Ariz.) said Thursday that he would be willing to work with President Trump Donald John TrumpBubba Wallace to be driver of Michael Jordan, Denny Hamlin NASCAR team Graham: GOP will confirm Trump's Supreme Court nominee before the election Southwest Airlines, unions call for six-month extension of government aid MORE "when his ideas aren't stupid," pointing to the president's order a day before to deploy the National Guard along the U.S.-Mexico border.

"I will gladly work with the president when his ideas aren't stupid and detrimental to the United States," Gallego said on CNN.

"Unfortunately, this is what this plan is," he added, referring to the plan to send National Guardsmen to the border. "This is a failing presidency. Their ideas are failing. So now they're just throwing essentially red meat at their base by sending troops to the border."

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The president has stepped up his hard-line rhetoric on immigration in recent days, and cast the National Guard move as necessary to safeguard the border from illegal crossings.





The directive will allow guardsmen to support U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents who guard the southern frontier.

But much about the plan remains unclear. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen Kirstjen Michele NielsenDHS IG won't investigate after watchdog said Wolf, Cuccinelli appointments violated law Appeals court sides with Trump over drawdown of immigrant protections Democrats smell blood with new DHS whistleblower complaint MORE, who announced Trump's plan on Wednesday, was not able to say how many troops will be sent to the border, the length of the deployment or how much it is expected to cost.

She also did not say what exactly the guardsmen's support role will entail.