Operation Jump Start winds down; guard will continue drug surveillance
By Steve Ramirez/Sun-News reporter
Article Launched: 05/28/2008 01:00:00 AM MDT



LAS CRUCES — In about a week, Operation Jump Start will begin shutting down along the Mexican border, including the 180 miles of shared border with New Mexico.

But that won't mean a complete halt of surveillance, even though as many as 300 National Guard soldiers will go away. The New Mexico National Guard will continue its operations of a counter-drug program that has been in effect the past 20 years.

Brig. Gen. Kenny Montoya, commander of the New Mexico National Guard, said Tuesday in Las Cruces that a continued, constant level of federal funding for the program will ensure future success.

"If I can get 100 soldiers down there on the border, the New Mexico National Guard can do the same work that 500 soldiers have been able to accomplish through Operation Jump Start," Montoya said.

The two years of Operation Jump Start, which was to monitor and deter activities of illegal immigrants along the U.S.-Mexico border, officially ends July 15, barring a last-second change by Congress to keep it going.

In a briefing Tuesday to Lt. Gov. Diane Denish about border activities, Montoya said soldiers from other states who have participated in Operation Jump Start will begin going home next week.

After her talks with the Guard at the Las Cruces International Airport, Denish continued her border tour Tuesday in Deming, where she received an aerial tour of the New Mexico-Mexico border in Luna County.

"We flew right down the fence line," Denish said of the border
with Mexico where barriers are being erected to further slow illegal immigration from Mexico to New Mexico.
"It seems as if, to me, everything is working at the right level," she said.

Montoya and Guard members reminded Denish that federal funding is crucial because it determines how many Guard members can be placed along the border, and how many can be trained and retained. The training and experience can be invaluable.

"If the funding drops, that means that a soldier has to be laid off," Montoya said. "All that training, all that experience is lost. The funding comes back and we have to go back out to recruit someone and start all over again."

In the past four federal fiscal years, Task Force Guardian, the state National Guard's counter-drug program has received: $1 million in the 2005 fiscal year, $2.8 million in 2006, $1.34 million in 2007, and $3.2 million for the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.

"We understand those concerns," said Maria Najera, spokeswoman for Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M. "It's hard to keep a presence (on the border) when funding levels fluctuate like that."

Najera said Bingaman and a group of Democrat senators have written the Senate's Defense Appropriations Subcommittee seeking an overall boost in counter-drug funding the National Guard receives nationwide. President Bush has requested $167 million for the National Guard's counter-drug program for the 2009 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. Najera said that funding would pay for 1,900 Guard positions throughout the U.S. for its counter-drug program.

However, Bingaman and other senators have asked that $255 million be appropriated to the national counter-drug program. That funding level would pay for 2,763 full-time Guard positions.

Najera added that Bingaman is specifically seeking $4 million for New Mexico's counter-drug program for the 2009 fiscal year.

"There's still several hurdles to clear," Najera said. "The potential of a presidential veto is the biggest hurdle right now."

Denish said continued violence along the border only emphasizes the need for Task Force Guardian to have the resources and funding it needs.

"This is a federal issue and we must be willing to support these operations of the National Guard along with our congressional delegation," said Denish, referring to elected state leaders. "We continue to get calls from New Mexicans who are concerned about what's happening in Palomas (Mexico), Columbus and all our other border communities. "Those problems only amplify the need for us to do everything necessary to protect our border. The drug cartel wars won't come here, but the drug runners will. It's important for our state to do everything in our power to stop them."


Deming Headlight reporter Kevin Buey contributed to this report.


Steve Ramirez can be reached at sramirez@lcsun-news.com





http://www.elpasotimes.com/newmexico/ci_9398200