http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/m...5-bn21gov.html


Governor chides Congress over border legislation delays

By Phil Lavelle
UNION-TRIBUNE
and Greg Gross
UNION-TRIBUNE BREAKING NEWS TEAM


1:35 p.m. June 21, 2006

SAN DIEGO – While taking a tour of the U.S.-Mexico border, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger chided Congress on Wednesday for stalling federal legislation to curb illegal immigration.



HOWARD LIPIN / Union-Tribune
The governor address the media during his visit Wednesday to the U.S.-Mexico border.
Republican leaders in the House of Representatives announced Tuesday their plans for more hearings next month on immigration, a move that could doom any hope of passing a comprehensive immigration reform bill this year.

“It would be totally inexcusable,” Schwarzenegger told reporters during a whirlwind tour of the border, during which he met with National Guard troops assigned to the international boundary as part of the Bush Administration's Operation Jump Start.

National Guard soldiers are being assigned to fence-building and other support tasks to free up more Border Patrol agents for actual patrol work along the 2,000-mile boundary.

Schwarzenegger initially opposed the idea, calling it half-baked, but has since reversed himself.

“All of those things have been ironed out,” he said.

Schwarzenegger said it was important to have the National Guard aid law enforcement efforts against migrant and drug smuggling along the border, as well as making the border less vulnerable to infiltration by would-be terrorists.
“The National Guard can be very effective,” he said.

Schwarzenegger met briefly with senior National Guard and Border Patrol officials, then took a 23-minute aerial tour along the border in a U.S. Army UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter.

At the end of the flight, the governor met with about 100 National Guardsmen in a dirt field near the border to thank them for their service.