Sending in the National Guard, armed, is long overdue. And it is long past time to start sending in special forces to deal with the armed drug runners and couriers. One shot, one kill.
Look what happened in 2007 [This is Big Sis talking when she was still AZ governor]:
Arizona Border Encounter Gets Political
Jan. 29, 2007
Excerpt
Four National Guard soldiers from Tennessee were at a lookout post at the border when they were approached by six to eight gunmen wearing bulletproof vests. One of the gunmen came within 35 feet of the observation site, according to investigators’ summaries.
The soldiers contacted Border Patrol agents and pulled back, investigators concluded. The Border Patrol tracked the armed men back to the border but could not locate them. No shots were fired.
Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano, National Guard officials and some state lawmakers defended the decision to call in the Border Patrol, saying the troops are not supposed to perform law enforcement duties. The governor’s office has said the rules allow Guard members to use force when they believe they face an imminent threat and all other means are exhausted.
“I don’t think that it’s up to the committee to negotiate the rules of engagement,” Napolitano said. “Those rules of engagement were negotiated with the National Guard at the federal level.”
The troops were among the 6,400 National Guard members sent to the four southern border states to support immigration agents, and leave the agents with more time to catch illegal immigrants.
The support duties include monitoring border points, assisting with cargo inspection and operate surveillance cameras.
“We don’t apprehend,” said Maj. Paul Aguirre, a spokesman for the Arizona National Guard. “We don’t detain. We don’t transport.”
http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/1/29/80614.shtml