Thread: Full contingent of National Guard troops working AZ. border

Full contingent of National Guard troops working Arizona-Mexico border

By Brady McCombs Arizona Daily Star Arizona Daily Star
Friday, October 8, 2010 12:17 pm

The full contingent of 560 National Guard troops are in place along Arizona's stretch of U.S-Mexico border, with the majority working in observation posts.

The 504 troops working in these "Entrance Identification Teams" conduct surveillance for the U.S. Border Patrol although they are not authorized to apprehend anybody. When they spot activity, they radio the information to the Border Patrol. The troops are armed and authorized to use their weapons in self defense.

The extra staffing will help the Border Patrol in deterring and detecting illegal border crossers and drug smuggling, said Victor Manjarrez Jr. chief of the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector. "They serve as our eyes and ears," Manjarrez said.

Manjarrez declined to divulge how many observation posts are up along Arizona's border but said there are sites in Cochise, Santa Cruz and Pima Counties. There are not any on the Tohono O'odham Nation, one of the busiest corridors on the entire Southwest Border.

Another 24 National Guard troops will work in administrative roles to support the troops and 28 are assigned to work as criminal intelligence analysts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. All of the troops volunteered for the mission and are from the Arizona National Guard.

The mission will last for about one year with a target completion date of June 30.

The 560 soldiers set for the Arizona border represent nearly half of the 1,200 troops President Obama authorized in May for active duty along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The mission is part of the Obama administration's overall border-security plan that includes funding for more federal agents to slow people- and drug-smuggling north, and cash- and gun-smuggling south.

The cost of the borderwide mission involving the Guard is not to exceed $135 million, which will be split evenly between the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Defense budgets.

About 200 soldiers will be staying at Fort Huachuca in Sierra Vista and the rest will be staying in hotels and other lodging contracted by the government.

This will be the second major National Guard border mission in the last five years. In the Operation Jump Start mission that ran from 2006 to 2008 across the U.S.-Mexico border, the federal government spent $1.2 billion to send 6,000 National Guard troops. The troops helped the Border Patrol by building roads and fences, operating radios, and sitting in observation posts near the border to report activity.

Contact reporter Brady McCombs at 573-4213 or bmccombs@azstarnet.com

http://azstarnet.com/news/local/border/ ... 002e0.html

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

[size=18]The full contingent of 560 National Guard troops are in place along Arizona's stretch of U.S-Mexico border, with the majority working in observation posts.

Ooh, 560.

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

The full contingent of 560 National Guard troops are in place along Arizona's stretch of U.S-Mexico border, with the majority working in observation posts.

as if this amount is going to make a difference.
three shifts at eight hours means just under 170 for the AZ border at any one time.

LIKE that is really going to matter

Would you rather that they not be there and there would be 170 FEWER people?

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

Would you rather that they not be there and there would be 170 FEWER people?

id really rather have enough to stand shoulder to shoulder 24/7 and really keep people out, but i know that will never happen.