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National Guard To Support, Not Supplant, Border Patrol

Civilian soldiers ready to answer call to secure the nation, say officials

The deployment of up to 6,000 National Guard forces to the U.S.-Mexico border is a short-term support measure until more border guards can complete their training, several senior officials told members of the House Armed Services Committee.

In a May 24 hearing, Paul McHale, assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense, joined by David Aguilar, chief of the U.S. Border Patrol, and U.S. Army generals Richard J. Rowe and H. Steven Blum, updated members of Congress on plans to strengthen security along the southwestern U.S. border.

In a May 15 televised address to the nation, President Bush called for comprehensive immigration reform that is "secure, orderly, and fair," including a temporary guest-worker program and the temporary supplementation of the U.S. Border Patrol with National Guard troops. (See related article.)

The number of individuals illegally crossing into the United States from Mexico is a serious security and human rights concern, said Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter.

Hunter, who represents a border region in southern California, said that his district has seen a decrease in the flow of illegal immigrant and drug smugglers after an increase of border fencing in urban areas. But, he said, the fences also have caused would-be crossers to move farther into remote desert areas where patrols are less frequent but crossing is more dangerous.

Human traffickers and drug smugglers take advantage of individuals seeking economic opportunity in the United States, the congressman said, endangering them in difficult, often deadly border-crossing attempts.

Hunter also said that even though the majority of illegal immigrants are Mexican, more than 150,000 people apprehended by Border Patrol agents in 2005 were from elsewhere, including Iran, North Korea and China.

"People now understand if you want to get into the United States illegally, you no longer come through L.A. International Airport; you come across the land border between Mexico and the United States," Hunter said.

National Guard members are America's "citizen soldiers." Unlike full-time military personnel, guard members live and work in communities across the country, volunteering to train two weeks to three weeks a year and to participate in operations directed by state or federal authorities. Domestically, units play a key role in responding to natural disasters, while internationally, the men and women of the National Guard in recent years have taken part in operations in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq. (See related article.)

Source: U.S. Department of State

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