Thread: ALIPAC: National Guard set to deploy at border

National Guard set to deploy at border

San Diego among areas to get troops

By Leslie Berestein, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Wednesday, May 26, 2010 at 12:04 a.m.

With national debate raging over illegal immigration and drug smuggling, the Obama administration is planning the deployment of National Guard troops to the border in San Diego County and elsewhere.

An administration official said Tuesday that the deployment of up to 1,200 Guard troops is part of a plan that will include a request by President Barack Obama for $500 million for enhanced border protection and law enforcement.

The troops will work in a support role, providing assistance to border agents with surveillance, reconnaissance, intelligence analysis and counternarcotics operations while U.S. Customs and Border Protection recruits and trains additional staff members.

That was essentially the role of about 6,000 National Guard troops deployed by the Bush administration in May 2006, about 550 of whom assisted the Border Patrol in the San Diego sector with surveillance, border-fence projects and other non-law-enforcement support. The two-year program, dubbed Operation Jumpstart, also was intended to strengthen border security while additional agents were hired.

“They helped free up the agents, so the agents could focus their efforts on securing the border,â€

1200 along the entire length of our border with Mexico? Working 8hr shifts that adds 400 extra sets of eyes along how many miles? Excuse while I say "Whoop de do!"