President orders Guard troops to support southern border security
By Master Sgt. Bob Haskell
May 16, 2006
WASHINGTON (Army News Service, May 16, 2006) – President George W. Bush has called for up to 6,000 National Guard troops to be deployed along the United States' border with Mexico to help the U.S. Border Patrol stem the flow of illegal immigrants into this country and to support the efforts to reform the immigration system.
The initial commitment would be for one year while the Border Patrol begins recruiting and training thousands of new agents and begins beefing up its border security with new technology, the president said during a nationally televised address on Monday night, May 15.
Bush said that Border Patrol would be increased by 6,000 officers by the end of 2008 and that improved technological measures would include high-tech fences, motion sensors, infrared cameras and unmanned aerial vehicles "to prevent illegal crossings."
Employing Guard troops would be one of "several immediate steps to strengthen border enforcement during this period of transition," Bush said. "One way to help during this transition is to use the National Guard."
As new technologies and newly trained Border Patrol agents became available, Guard presence on the border would be reduced.
Bush indicated the federal government would coordinate with governors to place Guard troops along the southern borders of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.
"The Border Patrol will remain in the lead," Bush explained. "Guard units will not be involved in direct law enforcement activities – that duty will be done by the Border Patrol."
The Guard troops would assist the Border Patrol by "operating surveillance systems, analyzing intelligence, installing fences and vehicle barriers, building patrol roads and providing training," the president explained.
The number of Guard troops would be reduced after the initial year "as new Border Patrol agents and new technologies come online," Bush said.
The border duty would not affect the National Guard's ability to perform its other duties, the president said.
"It is important for Americans to know that we have enough Guard forces to win the war on terror, to respond to natural disasters and to help secure our border," he stated.
The National Guard Bureau reported that the Army and Air National Guard have a total of 440,000 men and women of which 71,000 are currently engaged in the Global War on Terrorism.
"The National Guard can do this mission. We have the skills, the capabilities and the available, highly-trained people," Guard officials stated. "Our Citizen-Soldiers and Citizen-Airmen will perform this mission under the command and control of the governors and under the funding of the federal government, on Title 32 status," they added.
"The United States is not going to militarize the southern border," the president said. "Mexico is our neighbor, and our friend."
Guard engineer units have built fences and roads along the southern border during annual training rotations for more than 20 years. Additionally, the National Guard has also been supporting counter drug missions along the border since 1989.
This is not the first time that Bush has asked for National Guard troops to support domestic authorities for an extended period. In 2002, over 1,300 Guard troops assisted the U.S. Immigrations and Naturalization Service, the U.S. Border Patrol and the U.S. Customs Service in conducting inspections at 52 sites in 12 states along the northern and southern border.
Airport security became a major Guard mission during the winter of 2001-02, early in the war against terrorism.
Nearly 9,000 Army and Air Guard members were assigned to 444 airports by December 2001 after the president requested additional personnel during that holiday season, a National Guard Bureau official reported. The Guard's numbers were reduced to 5,071 troops at 341 airports by May 10, 2002, and then to 2,182 personnel at 223 airports after Mother's Day. The airport mission was completed by the end of that month.
"Your mere presence at the checkpoints no doubt averted would-be criminals and terrorists who have, presumably, chosen other paths of less resistance," praised Christopher Browne, Reagan National Airport's vice president and manager, as the troops were leaving the commercial airport closest to Washington.
That supported an observation by Guard officials that the National Guard is a vital asset to this country and has a proven track record for success in providing military support to civilian authorities.
(Editor's note: Master Sgt. Bob Haskell writes for the National Guard Bureau Public Affairs Office.)
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