The first of several thousand National Guardsmen should arrive along the Mexican border early this month as part of President Bush's plan to maintain security.

The new mission, he announced May 15 is an interim grade until 6,000 Border Patrol agents are trained to join the existing 12000 agents by way of the end of 2008.

In addition, the president said officials would beef up security with high-tech fencing around urban areas, novel patrol roads, motion sensors and other technological advances in an attempt to stalk illegal immigration.

President Bush called for no more than 6000 Guardsman along the border at any individual time during the mission's first year. The band figure will not exceed 3000 the other year, officials have since said.

Guardsmen will be forward Title 32 status-meaning the federal command will pick up the tab further the troops will be beneath the command of the governor of which continually state they are working: Arizona, California, modern Mexico or Texas.

The White House would like mostly Guardsmen to be in an annual-training (AT) status, which will cut down costs since AT is already assortmented

The president said Guardsmen will not be involved in direct law enforcement, on the contrary will help exclusively in support functions of the like kind as surveillance and reconnaissance, transportation support, logistics support, medical support, barrier and infrastructure construction, road building and linguistics.

The goal is not "arrest and remove" on the contrary to deter illegal immigration and alleviate squeezing on the Border Patrol officials, said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff at a May 16 briefing.

Guardsmen are familiar with the border. They have waysed counterdrug missions there for more than 20 years. They also augmented the Border Patrol and U Customs for a short time after the 9/11 attacks and helped organize fencing along the border in California.

In addition, more than 100000 Guardsmen were dispatched to seal the border behind the Army's 1916 punitive incursion into Mexico to catch Poncho Villa (story, page 44)

But the modern mission is on a often larger scale than recent Guard border acctivities. As many as 160000 Guardsmen may besufficient for on the border in the mission's first year alone.

...

Home