Published: 05.24.2007
Napolitano concerned about cuts to troops on border
By ARTHUR H. ROTSTEIN
The Associated Press
The federal government's plan to slice in half the number of National Guard troops assigned to support Border Patrol operations along the Mexican border is worrisome, Gov. Janet Napolitano said Wednesday.
In Phoenix during a weekly meeting the governor holds with reporters, she said she is concerned that fewer National Guard troops will be deployed as part of Operation Jump Start in the effort to stem the flow of illegal immigrants.
President Bush announced that mission last spring to bolster the Border Patrol as it adds 6,000 new agents by the end of 2008.
Napolitano said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar assured her at a meeting this week in Washington that only back-office and logistical rolls will be trimmed and not on-the-border deployments.
"The explanation given was that there will be the same number of guard on the front line," Napolitano said. "Where the reductions will be felt are those that are doing back-office work.
"I'm not satisfied with that."
Maj. Paul Aguirre, an Arizona National Guard spokesman, said there now are about 2,400 guardsmen in the state on any given day, about 40 percent of the 6,000 guardsmen deployed along the southwestern border.
Over about two months starting in July, that number will be cut in half, Aguirre said — giving Arizona a daily average of about 1,200 guardsmen until Operation Jump Start ends in July 2008.
Napolitano said she told Chertoff and Aguilar that she would be watching "very, very carefully because what we've seen since Operation Jump Start is a reduction in illegal immigrant apprehensions at the border... We don't want to go backward."
Arizona has the most illegal immigrant activity in the nation, though the Border Patrol's Tucson and Yuma sectors, the two busiest, have both seen significant reductions in apprehensions so far this fiscal year — Yuma's down by more than 60 percent.
When Operation Jump Start began, the Border Patrol had some 12,000 agents nationwide. DHS spokesman Russ Knocke said the Border Patrol has more than 13,500 agents currently and is on track to reach the goal of 18,000. He said 178 new agents who have completed training are in place in the Tucson sector, which now has 2,659 agents.
In Arizona, guardsmen have built roads, fencing, vehicle barriers and lighting, performed vehicle maintenance, manned entry identification teams to watch for illegal crossers and monitored surveillance cameras.
No guardsmen have been involved in apprehending border crossers.
Guard and Border Patrol officials have been working closely to determine priorities — which will include entry identification, construction engineering and aviation support teams — he said.
"It makes a lot of sense that the governor would have those concerns," he said. "By the same token, that's the way the mission was planned originally."
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