StackerKen
19th July 2010, 11:58 AM
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/07/19/border.troops/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
1,200 National Guard troops will help patrol Southwest border
More Customs and Border Protection agents will be added
The additional manpower will be deployed starting August 1
Domestic Security Policy
(CNN) -- U.S. National Guard forces will begin deploying along the U.S. border with Mexico beginning in August and will be fully trained and deployed by the end of the month, government officials announced Monday.
Some 1,200 Army and Air National Guard troops will be in place for a year to assist the Border Patrol in monitoring and capturing illegal immigrants crossing the border into the United States.
They will served as a "gap-filler" while the Customs and Border Patrol agency hires additional staff to fill the demand in protection along the almost 2,000-mile long southern border with Mexico.
The troops, from the four border states, will be fully trained and in place in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas by September 1, according to Gen. Craig McKinley, commander of the National Guard.
The Guard troops will not be involved in law enforcement activities such as arrests of illegal immigrants, but will assist the Border Patrol in looking for the illegal border crossers and smugglers as well as in intelligence gathering. The airmen and soldiers will be armed, but they will be limited by rules of engagement that allow them to shoot only to defend themselves, McKinley said.
The deployment is part of President Barak Obama's border plan announced in late May, when he also requested $500 million in supplemental funds to try to reduce the number of immigrants and smugglers crossing the border daily.
Additionally, Customs and Border Patrol will move more aircraft to the Tucson sector of the border, where an increase in human smuggling and illegal border crossings have been occurring, Federal officials said Monday.
Under President George W. Bush, a border deployment of the National Guard, called Operation Jump Start, ended in 2008. The operation sent more than 6,000 troops to the four border states to repair secondary border fence, construct nearly 1,000 metal barriers and fly Border Patrol agents by helicopter to intercept illegal immigrants.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
1,200 National Guard troops will help patrol Southwest border
More Customs and Border Protection agents will be added
The additional manpower will be deployed starting August 1
Domestic Security Policy
(CNN) -- U.S. National Guard forces will begin deploying along the U.S. border with Mexico beginning in August and will be fully trained and deployed by the end of the month, government officials announced Monday.
Some 1,200 Army and Air National Guard troops will be in place for a year to assist the Border Patrol in monitoring and capturing illegal immigrants crossing the border into the United States.
They will served as a "gap-filler" while the Customs and Border Patrol agency hires additional staff to fill the demand in protection along the almost 2,000-mile long southern border with Mexico.
The troops, from the four border states, will be fully trained and in place in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas by September 1, according to Gen. Craig McKinley, commander of the National Guard.
The Guard troops will not be involved in law enforcement activities such as arrests of illegal immigrants, but will assist the Border Patrol in looking for the illegal border crossers and smugglers as well as in intelligence gathering. The airmen and soldiers will be armed, but they will be limited by rules of engagement that allow them to shoot only to defend themselves, McKinley said.
The deployment is part of President Barak Obama's border plan announced in late May, when he also requested $500 million in supplemental funds to try to reduce the number of immigrants and smugglers crossing the border daily.
Additionally, Customs and Border Patrol will move more aircraft to the Tucson sector of the border, where an increase in human smuggling and illegal border crossings have been occurring, Federal officials said Monday.
Under President George W. Bush, a border deployment of the National Guard, called Operation Jump Start, ended in 2008. The operation sent more than 6,000 troops to the four border states to repair secondary border fence, construct nearly 1,000 metal barriers and fly Border Patrol agents by helicopter to intercept illegal immigrants.