Thread: White House weighs adding troops along Mexico border

White House weighs adding troops along Mexico border

By Anne Gearan

ASSOCIATED PRESS
2:00 a.m. April 25, 2009

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is considering sending more National Guard troops to keep order along the U.S.-Mexican border as drug-fueled violence increases in northern Mexico, defense officials said yesterday.

The governors of Arizona and Texas have asked for more than 250 additional Guard personnel this year, but no decision has been made. The administration has asked Congress for $350 million that could fund emergency military operations along the border, but the money hasn't been approved, and no final choices have been made about how to spend it if it comes through, defense officials said.

Officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the White House policy hasn't been set. They said the $350 million request doesn't signal imminent deployment of National Guard troops to the border.

In February, Texas Gov. Rick Perry asked Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano for 1,000 troops to augment efforts along the border. And in March, Arizona Gov. Janice Brewer asked the Pentagon to add 250 Guard soldiers to the approximately 150 who are there.

“Our communities are negatively affected by the impacts of (the) illegal drug trade and illegal immigration, and enforcement agencies in all jurisdictions are stretched too thin,â€

Separately, the governors of California, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas have asked congressional leaders to fund a long-standing program in which National Guard soldiers help with anti-drug efforts.

And these, days they can help with the anti-flu effort before we have millions more of the infected coming across the borders.

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http://www.alipac.us/article4165.html