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Civilian monitor wants Guard at border

Andy Ramirez, chairman of the Chino-based Friends of the Border Patrol, called on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday "to follow in the footsteps of Gov. Pete Wilson" by deploying the military and California National Guard to the border.
"We had guardsmen on the border until Gov. (Gray) Davis removed them," Ramirez said in a written statement he released to the media.

Ramirez is spearheading Friends of the Border Patrol Border Watch project, a group of civilians who will start monitoring the California border for illegal crossings Sept. 16. Ramirez says that nearly 800 people have signed up to participate but has declined to reveal records.

Ramirez also called on the American people to urge the removal of restrictions and policies that prevent Border Patrol agents from making arrests in inland areas.

"If our government will not do so, then the time has come for Congress to step in and consider impeachment hearings for dereliction of duty and obstruction of justice in violation of federal immigration law," Ramirez said in a statement he delivered at a San Diego press conference.

Last summer, a mobile patrol group at the Temecula Border Patrol station made hundreds of inland area arrests in cities such as Ontario and Corona until federal officials said the group violated policy by not getting prior approval from headquarters in Washington, D.C.