http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/opinion/39464.php

Our Opinion: Guard mission along border is still unclear
Tucson Citizen
Jan 23, 2007
Confusing and conflicting information that has emerged after a border-area encounter between National Guardsmen and armed men shows the poorly thought-out nature of the Guard's deployment.
The incident should serve as a spur to Guard commanders and Border Patrol officials to study the circumstances and more carefully define the role of the National Guard deployment.
Reports say that on Jan. 3 near Sasabe, four armed National Guard troops were surrounded by six to eight men carrying automatic weapons.
The Guardsmen gathered their equipment and left the area with no shots fired. Border Patrol agents were called and quickly arrived by air and on the ground, but the armed men had fled to Mexico, the reports said.
No one was injured and no one was apprehended. The Guardsmen followed procedures and avoided a confrontation.
But the Guardsmen, who were from Tennessee, were in a dangerous and vulnerable position, at least to an extent, because their mission has not been defined clearly.
Last May, President Bush said he was sending 6,000 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to help the 11,000 Border Patrol agents already here.
Bush's decision came a couple of years after he said the Guard would not be useful on the border. And it came as congressional Republicans were trying to show seriousness about fighting illegal immigration.
But from the day they showed up, the Guardsmen have been in danger, deployed in dozens of teams, standing guard on hilltops and acting as extra eyes and ears for the Border Patrol.
They are under orders not to interact with illegal immigrants, and Bush has said they will "not be involved in direct law enforcement activities." That's good because the roles served by soldiers, such as the Guard, and law enforcement officers, such as the Border Patrol, aren't interchangeable.
That said, what are the Guardsmen supposed to do? They are not guarding. They are sitting in highly visible places, watching people pass and notifying the Border Patrol. That makes them targets for people smuggling drugs and humans - people who are often armed and don't want to be spotted.
The Tennessee Guardsmen at the heart of the Jan. 3 incident should be commended for following orders in avoiding a confrontation. Both sides were heavily armed, but no shots were fired and no one was hurt.
But next time, things may not go that well.