About 300 Arizona National Guard troops will be sent to the state's porous southern border in June as the first tangible step in President Bush's controversial plan to beef up border security throughout the Southwest.

The Guard units, which will do two- and three-week rotations, could be deployed as early as the first week of June to fill a supporting role while the federal government recruits and trains Border Patrol agents over the next two years. By the end of June, Guard units from other states should be working at the Arizona-Mexico border as part of Bush's $1.9 billion crackdown on illegal immigration. The specific details of the Guard's mission at the border are still being finalized.

Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano said Arizona is ready for deployments after months of preparation. In addition to assisting Border Patrol agents, Napolitano said, the Guard can focus on the increasing drug trade that has wreaked havoc on Arizona families.
"I would like to expand their role in drug interdiction because our border is not just an issue of illegal immigration," said Napolitano on Saturday at the Guard's annual conference in Carefree. "There is a lot of drug trafficking, especially methamphetamine. The president is intent on making this happen. We are not militarizing the border. The goal is to free up the Border Patrol to do their jobs."

Bush traveled to Yuma last week to tout his border plan, which includes adding 6,000 National Guard troops along the Southwestern border. They will help Border Patrol agents with jobs such as building roads and monitoring communications equipment.

By 2008, the last year of Bush's presidency, the federal government wants to phase out the Guard and replace its soldiers with 6,000 new Border Patrol agents. Bush's comprehensive immigration reform includes increased border security, coupled with a guest-worker program and a path toward earned citizenship for the estimated 11 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.

In a visit to the state last week, Bush saw firsthand why Arizona has emerged as ground zero in the fight against illegal immigration.

In 2005, the Tucson and Yuma areas accounted for half of the country's 1.1 million arrests for illegal border crossings. For example, arrests in the Border Patrol's Yuma Sector are up 13 percent from the same time last year, when agents made more than 138,000 apprehensions.

"That puts communities at risk," Napolitano said. "It's a safety issue. It's a security issue and a border issue. The Border Patrol, quite frankly, can't staff up quickly enough. We need the Guard to help protect Arizona."

While Napolitano has embraced Bush's border plan, other border governors have been resistant or lukewarm. In fact, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a fellow Republican, has not said if he will commit troops to the mission because he's worried about the length of the deployment and whether it would hinder his state's ability to respond to a natural disaster or terrorist attack.

But the Arizona Guard commander, Adjutant Gen. David P. Rataczak, said his soldiers are ready for their missions.

"When we call them and ask for volunteers to do something in this state for their own citizens, they come running," Rataczak said. "They want to help. Are we stretched too thin? Not yet."

Sgt. 1st Class John Paul Salazar embodies that spirit of service. He said his fellow soldiers are eager and willing to serve at the Mexico border.

"If I wasn't deployed to Iraq in eight days, I would be happy to go down there," Salazar said. "That's our call. That's our duty. That's what we are all about."

Arizona already has about 170 Guard troops at the border helping federal and state officers with anti-drug operations, manning traffic checkpoints and repairing and fixing border fences. In all, there are about 7,400 Arizona Guardsmen. More than 3,000 have been activated since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

For months, Napolitano has pleaded for the federal government to do more in the battle against illegal immigration. In January, she unveiled a plan to station more National Guard troops at the border but only if the federal government picked up the tab. Now that plan is about to happen.

On Saturday, she gave a hearty thanks to the men and women in the Arizona National Guard.

"In my view, there is no group of men and women in Arizona that embody service like the Guard does," she said. "Every time I've needed your service, you have responded with eagerness and confidence and expertise. I've seen it in the last few months . . . as we began exploring the use of the Guard on the Arizona-Mexico border."

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... r0521.html