The US government will start deploying National Guard members to
the four states bordering Mexico next week, just half a month after
President George W. Bush announced his plan to strengthen security
in the border areas.
The first batch of some 800 Guardsman would be sent to
California, Arizona, Texas and New Mexico around June 1, with 200
for each of the states, Lieutenant General Steven Blum, head of the
National Guard, told lawmakers on Wednesday.
The number would gradually increase to up to 6,000, as Bush
announced, to help stem the flow of illegal immigrants across the
border.
Most of the troops would spend about 21 days along the border,
which would include their normal annual two-week training period,
and they would not be engaged in law enforcement activities, which
would be carried out by Border Patrol agents.
The Guardsman would focus on engineering, road and fence
building, transportation, logistics and surveillance and
reconnaissance.
Bush announced on May 15 that as many as 6,000 National Guard
soldiers would be deployed in the US-Mexico border, to help stop
illegal immigration.
Under the two-year plan, up to 6,000 Guard troops would be
dispatched to the borders in the first year, and the number would
be cut to no more than 3,000 in the second year, when more Border
Patrol agents would have been trained.
(Xinhua News Agency May 25, 2006)
