Thread: National Guard to arrive at Arizona-Mexico border

National Guard to arrive at Arizona-Mexico border

Posted 3m ago
By Dennis Wagner, USA TODAY

About 30 Army National Guard soldiers were expected to arrive at the Arizona-Mexico border this week in the first wave of reinforcements sent by the Obama administration to bolster security.

More troops will be sent each Monday until 532 have joined the mission, said 1st Lt. Valentine Castillo, a National Guard spokesman in Phoenix.

"Everything is right on track to be fully operational by the beginning of October," Castillo said.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, said soldiers will begin providing border security in his state Wednesday. No date has been given for deployments in Texas and New Mexico.

The soldiers got two to three weeks of training in surveillance techniques and first aid. They will be armed for self-defense, Castillo said, but will not have law-enforcement authority. Instead, they will serve as "extra eyes and ears" for the U.S. Border Patrol.

Some will be assigned to teams in concealed locations to watch for smugglers and illegal immigrants entering the U.S. When the troops spot them, they'll call in agents to grab the suspects, Castillo said. Others will monitor computers and work with electronic detection systems.

"We're here to support Customs and Border Protection," he said.

Mario Escalante, of the Border Patrol's Tucson sector, said many will be doing mobile or remote surveillance. "It's going to help a lot," he said. "There will be certain areas where they play a major role as a deterrence factor," forcing illegal migrants to use routes patrolled by agents.

President Obama announced in May plans to deploy the National Guard amid controversy over Arizona's immigration-enforcement law and under pressure from GOP Gov. Jan Brewer and members of Congress.

In March 2009, Brewer wrote to the Defense Department requesting 250 additional troops for Arizona's Joint Counter Narco-Terrorism Task Force, which already uses National Guard personnel.

Brewer spokesman Paul Senseman said the governor is "grateful for the additional assistance" but believes 6,000 reinforcements are now needed, with half of them in Arizona.

Senseman said Brewer is calling for the larger force to ensure that extreme cartel violence in northern Sonora does not leapfrog into Arizona.
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How special, the Charade Parade begins just in time for Nov elections.

This just in time for Nov elections, along with pullout of US troops in Iraq, for which The One will take credit. Upcoming Mid-east Peace talks, which every other President has tried..... You gotta hand it to these folks, they are good at the timely political staging.

Hopefully, most Americans will not be bamboozled by all the "guards" being sent down to the border for show, given office support roles, in the big Charade Parade Dark Comedy that is this Administration.

Sounds like smoke in mirrors.....

Originally Posted by builditnow

How special, the Charade Parade begins just in time for Nov elections.

This just in time for Nov elections, along with pullout of US troops in Iraq, for which The One will take credit. . .

The troops are going to the border because Arizona and the Republicans demanded it. So he doesn't get credit for that.
The date for the Iraq pull out was set back in 2008.

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