Posted on 07/20/2010 9:02:33 AM PDT by La Lydia
U.S. National Guard troops will begin arriving along the border with Mexico on August 1 to bolster security as the Obama administration tries to stem the flow of illegal immigrants, weapons and narcotics, officials said on Monday. About 300 Customs and Border Protection agents and officers also will be sent to the border region, along with additional helicopters and other surveillance equipment, they said.
"The border is more resourced and more secure than it's ever been but the work continues and the challenge remains," said Alan Bersin, commissioner of the Customs and Border Protection agency.
The Obama administration has pledged to send up to 1,200 National Guard troops to the area for a year and to seek $600 million for, among other things, 1,000 new border patrol agents and unmanned aerial detection systems.
Violence along the border has been escalating in recent years. Bersin said illegal crossings have begun to fall while seizures of weapons and drugs have risen.
The largest share of the National Guard force -- 524 troops -- will go to Arizona, where state officials have complained bitterly about lack of security...While welcoming the Obama administration's measures, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer said it did not "appear to be enough or tied to a strategy to comprehensively defeat the increasingly violent drug and alien smuggling cartels" operating in the desert border state.
"We need the implementation of a federal plan to achieve victory over these brutal cartels and the porous nature of our open border," she said....
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
LOL Took the words right out of my mouth.
” ... a strategy to comprehensively defeat ... “
Good for the governor. She’s turned their “comprehensive immigration reform” trope on its head.
You nailed that. LOL
Well, never mind that the troops probably haven’t been issued any weapons, and will sit in the desert purposelessly and roast.
At least this shows that Obama is feeling the heat on the immigration issue and now has to talk out of both sides of his mouth.
border ping
Nothing against the Guard, but with no training to this task, no ROE, no TO&E for the mission - and I’m sure no live ammo - they are expensive props for the bammy-ites in DC.
I would doubt you can get a positive comment from any of the grunts - and don’t care to hear fromm the POGs.
ping for comment - as you are on the border and speak fluent grunt....
If this is anything like the last time we sent troops to the border (under Bush 43), they weren’t allowed to carry loaded weapons or apprehend any illegals. All they were allowed to do was point and say “There goes one”!
Big whoop. Big waste of time, money and effort.
That is what I expect to happen, too.
Yeah. Come August those Mission Briefings should have a few heads shaking and more than a few wondering why they joined the National Guard.
On the same day the administration announced its plan to send 1,200 National Guard troops to the southwestern states, Brewer said she's sending the pot of stimulus money to more than a dozen border cities and counties -- as well as several tribes and the Arizona Department of Public Safety. (Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Ping!
BINGO.
They are sending a whopping 250 Nat Guards to Texas.
This is just another “in your face” moment from obama.
His media will take LOTS of pictures, the news stories will be how this govt is protecting the border and how the border states are crazy to even protest.
It’s another set up by the chicago mafia.
The first governor to implement the following will bolster their respect and perception by the public for doing thie job to protect and secure their citizens...and thuse their political future:
By Howard Fischer Capitol Media Services PHOENIX Arizona should see its first National Guard soldiers next month.
But the full deployment wont be in the state until October. And they wont be staying that long.
The announcement Monday at the Pentagon left Gov. Jan Brewer unimpressed with what she continues to insist is the failure of the federal government to understand the situation along the border. So Brewer took the opportunity to hand out $10 million in grants to state, local and tribal entities to do the job she said the federal government has failed to do.
Mondays briefing was designed to provide some details about President Obamas decision in May to put 1,200 soldiers along the border with Mexico. A total of 524 of them are earmarked for Arizona.
We believe that well be fully ready through the month of August as we ramp up, National Guard Bureau Chief Gen. Craig McKinley said at the Pentagon briefing. But surely by September we should have our whole forces in the field, working with our partners.
But Lt. Col. Robert Ditchey acknowledged that Arizona wont have its full complement of soldiers until October and then, only for about four months.
It ramps up prior to that time, holds at kind of that high peak, and then will ramp down to June 30 when is the end of this support, this temporary bridge, he said. Ditchey figured that soldiers would start leaving in January.
Mondays Pentagon announcement, though, included more than just details about Guard deployment. John Morton, director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said special attention is being paid to Arizona.
Were placing a particular emphasis on the Tucson sector, an area favored by smugglers and the principal point of illegal entry into the United States along the Southwest border, Morton said during the briefing.
Were going to do it by opening a new investigative office in Ajo to focus exclusively on crossborder crime, Morton continued. And he promised to put a special border enforcement security task force of specially trained agents in Douglas to bolster investigations in that part of the state.
Thats the part of the country where Mr. (Robert) Krentz, the rancher, was murdered, Morton noted. And he promised additional lawyers to help prosecute criminals who illegally re-enter the country after theyve been deported.
Indeed, were presently prosecuting every single felon who re-enters the country through the Tucson sector, Morton said.
McKinley said the new soldiers being sent to the border will have the same use of force rules that now exist for Guard troops already involved in the Joint Counter Narco-Terrorism Task Force: He said soldiers will be armed but their weapons are for self-preservation only, self-defense only.
Some of the new soldiers will be assigned to entry identification teams.
They work with Border Patrol agents in this case to provide additional eyes and ears on the border, said Alan Bersin, commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, located at predetermined places along the border to spot those trying to cross into the country illegally. But he said the Border Patrol would conduct the actual apprehensions.
He would not say that means being on the ground, located in towers or staffing radar units.
Brewer said while the soldiers are needed, she considers the response from the Obama administration wholly inadequate.
It does not appear to be enough, or tied to a strategy to comprehensively defeat the increasingly violent drug and alien smuggling cartels that operate in Arizona on a daily basis, the governor said in a prepared statement.
Brewer separately used her offices announcement of the grant awards to take yet another slap at the failure of the federal government to secure the border. But the Republican governor reserved most of her criticism for the current Democratic occupant of the White House.
I reject the Obama administrations notion that Arizonas border security is better than ever, Brewer said in a prepared statement. That claim was repeated Monday at the Pentagon briefing. The border is more resourced and more secure than its ever been, said Bersin.
He said there has been a 23 percent decrease of illegal immigrants coming across the border. At the same time, Bersin said, the number of drug busts is up 15 percent, with a 30 percent boost in seizures of illegal weapons.
Brewer said she remains unconvinced that the border is more secure.
We are forced to do what we can locally to act on safety and security until the Congress and the administration act, the governor said.
In those grant awards announced Monday, vehicles and high-tech equipment appear to be popular choices of the cities, counties and tribes that succeeded in landing a share of the cash.
Many of the successful requests were for all-wheel drive sport-utility vehicles that would be suitable for driving through the desert. Several police departments also asked for smaller all-terrain vehicles.
Overtime pay also figured in several requests, as did K-9 patrols.
And then there is the technology.
Particularly popular are night-vision telescopes and thermal imaging sensors. Some cash also will be spent on radios and remote data terminals.
Brewer is hanging on to nearly $1.6 million of that for her own Department of Public Safety. It wants the cash for overtime to set up special enforcement details to deal with border crime.
But that takes up just $400,000 of the grant. The rest is going to equipment, ranging from six 4x4 patrol vehicles to a telescope with infrared technology.
There. I fixed it.
I’d prefer Gov Brewer to call for the unorganized citizens militia (Arizona Citizens Militia) to take care of the border. The National Guard had become little more than reservists for federal troops.
THanks for the additional details.
IOW - a dog and pony show for the PRess.
More Crap from the Pretender and Thief.
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