http://nctimes.com/articles/2006/05/..._095_16_06.txt

Sheriff says he can't help enforce immigration laws

By: MARK WALKER - Staff Writer

San Diego County Sheriff Bill Kolender said Tuesday his agency lacks the manpower to help the federal government go after illegal immigrants in North County neighborhoods.

"We are 200 positions short for our basic law enforcement needs throughout the county and are unable to dedicate additional resources to help federal officers apprehend and detain illegal immigrants," Kolender said in a prepared statement.

The sheriff was responding to new initiatives announced Monday by President Bush to stem the flow of illegal immigrants into the United States. Bush's plan includes an undetermined amount of money for local police agencies to enforce immigration laws.


In Sacramento, the head of the California National Guard told Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger late Tuesday afternoon that the Golden State may get as many as 1,000 of the 6,000 Guard troops Bush is sending to the border with Mexico.

Bush said the Guard would be used in surveillance and to help build roads and fences.

While Kolender expressed frustration with a lack of deputies, Schwarzenegger expressed frustration over a lack of details about the plan for the Guard and said he wants an assurance there will be a definitive endpoint.

"It helps to bring the National Guard there temporarily, but not permanently," Schwarzenegger told reporters. "I want a guarantee that they will come home after two years."

While Bush mentioned a one-year assignment for the Guard during a Monday speech, an administration official hinted Tuesday that it may be longer than 12 months.

The governor also said he wasn't consulted before Bush made his announcement.

"We were not included in the decision-making process," he said.

Schwarzenegger said it was "embarrassing and disastrous" that the Bush administration has not moved sooner to secure the border.

Maj. Gen. William Wade, head of the California National Guard, told Schwarzenegger he was uncertain where the troops would be stationed along the state's 152-mile border with Mexico.

The administration's decision to put Guard units along the border beginning next month could harm retention rates in the citizen-soldier force, a National Guard lieutenant said Tuesday.

Riverside County's Tom Nys spent 21 of the last 30 months on active-duty deployment and said he worries Bush's decision to put Guard troops along the U.S.-Mexico border will lead to more stress among the troops.

"We are burning out the volunteer core," Nys said.

Nys returned in early April from Guantanamo Bay, where he was stationed for more than a year. He said he worries that his specialty as a logistics officer will be in demand for the border assignment.

"They will probably ask for volunteers first and then start picking and choosing," Nys said. "If one doesn't volunteer this time, you will probably be 'voluntold' next time."

The president said he intends to increase the size of the Border Patrol by 50 percent, elevating the number of agents from 12,000 to 18,000 by the end of 2008. It takes about seven months to hire, train and put an agent in the field.

The California National Guard includes 20,093 soldiers and airmen. About 2,200 are currently deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

The president's announcement was met with optimism in the offices of the U.S. Border Patrol in San Diego.

Agent Kurstan Rosberg said Tuesday the Guard will be a "force multiplier," freeing up many of the San Diego region's 1,612 agents to concentrate on enforcement.

The San Diego region is one of 20 Border Patrol sectors that stand watch over the U.S.' 1,952-mile border with Mexico. Since October, San Diego agents have made 95,504 apprehensions along the 66 miles of border it guards, Rosberg said.

"There is no agency that doesn't want to get more agents out there in the field," Kurstan said. "Any help we get from the National Guard is going to be welcome."

Administration officials have suggested the Guard units will rotate in and out every two weeks, a schedule that would require as many as 156,000 troops over a 12-month period.

"The trick will be finding the right mix of personnel and technology," Rosberg said. "What is right for the San Diego sector might not be right for other sectors."

Guard units have long assisted the Border Patrol with narcotics enforcement along the border.

At the Philadelphia offices of the Quaker group the American Friends Service Committee, former San Diego director and now national coordinator Christian Ramirez said sending troops to the border is a mistake.

"It's unjustified and further intensifies tension," he said. "It's the largest deployment to the Mexican border in 100 years, when the U.S. was pursuing Poncho Villa."

No matter how many troops are put along the border, which includes a 1,248-mile stretch in Texas, 375 miles in Arizona and 177 miles in New Mexico, illegal immigrants will continue to find ways to get into the U.S. as long as there are jobs, he said.

"Law enforcement alone will never solve this issue," Ramirez said, adding the group's San Diego office will pay attention to any "unusual sort of troop movement."

Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.