National Guard to ramp up at border

By Michael Gardner, U-T SACRAMENTO BUREAU
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 7:39 p.m.

Weeks after it was announced, a federal mission to deploy California National Guard troops to help combat drug cartels and illegal immigration is about to station armed sentries in San Diego County.

About 100 of the troops are in the final stages of specialized training in San Diego and should be on the job by September, according to Major Kimberly Holman, a spokeswoman for the mission.

They will be joined later by another 150 guard members in the coming weeks, she added. Also, another 100 will be prepared so they can step in for those who do not finish training.

Their primary role job will be as lookouts, posted in sensitive areas across San Diego and Imperial counties. U.S. Border Patrol agents will be called in to make the actual contact and arrests, Holman said.

“We are not there as law enforcement,â€