Border governors push for National Guard

(photo) New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer talk Wednesday afternoon at Bisbee-Douglas International Airport after their helicopter tour of the southern Arizona border. (MARK LEVY/Wick Communications)

By Derek Jordan/wick communications
Published: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 11:51 AM CDT

DOUGLAS - Joined by her New Mexico counterpart, Gov. Jan Brewer again called on the federal government to assist border states with mounting drug smuggling and illegal immigration issues by providing additional National Guard troops for the Mexican border.

"The federal government has a responsibility to secure our borders," Brewer said Wednesday.

She spoke alongside New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson at Bisbee-Douglas International Airport after the two took an aerial tour of the border led by the Arizona National Guard.

"Given the murder that just recently took place out here, I think it's incumbent on the federal government to respond," she said.

Brewer spoke of the March 28 shooting death of Douglas-area rancher Robert Krentz. A trail of footprints led investigators 20 miles south to Mexico.

"The people of America, the people of Arizona and the people of New Mexico do not want to live in this environment," she said.

Their tour took the two state leaders from the airport to the Krentz family ranch northeast of Douglas, then along the Mexican border from New Mexico to the edge of Cochise County. There, Brewer said, they witnessed the "decimation" of the area, caused by smuggling and illegal immigration activity.

"You would think it was a county dump," the governor said of the amount of waste and garbage they saw at various locations along the border.

"We also observed our Border Patrol apprehending illegals that had already crossed the border," she said. "We actually saw firsthand exactly what takes place here 24 hours a day."

When asked if she would consider sending National Guard troops to the border without federal support, as Richardson did March 31 in his state, Brewer said she was "prepared to do that," but the cost to the state would be such that it would not be sustainable.

"It would not serve us very well if we put the National Guard down there for one week or two weeks and not be able to sustain them," she said. "We need a permanent solution."

If Brewer's request to the federal government for more National Guard troops along the border is accepted, that means the feds would foot the bill, said 1st Lt. Valentine Castillo, public affairs officer for the Arizona National Guard.

There are currently about 140 Arizona National Guard troops assigned to support U.S. Border Patrol with surveillance, analysis and drug education efforts, Castillo said.

Arizona has approximately 8,000 Army and Air National Guard members, he said.

Brewer has asked for 250 National Guard troops to be sent to patrol the Arizona-Mexico border, she said.

Along with additional federal support, Richardson said solid communication between Arizona- and New Mexico-based efforts to curb smuggling and illegal immigration is key to solving the issue.

"The New Mexico National Guard and the Arizona National Guard have been working very closely together," he said.

Richardson went on to say that the issues faced by border states go beyond political parties.

"This is a bipartisan issue," he said. "It's the same issue, administration after administration. We need protection at the border. We need more Border Patrol, the National Guard on a permanent presence. We need our local law enforcement strengthened, our sheriffs."

Brewer said she had spoken with Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever and that the two will remain in contact "to see just exactly how we can help him" with the issues being faced by the county.

Dever was unavailable for comment Wednesday evening.

The two governors said they plan to contact fellow Govs. Arnold Schwarzeneggar of California and Rick Perry of Texas and, in solidarity, continue to call for support for the border states.

"We are going to do the best that we can as quickly as we can," Brewer said.

http://www.willcoxrangenews.com/article ... news05.txt