Obama to Send Up
to 1,200 Troops to Border
Published: May 25, 2010 - New York Times
LOS ANGELES — President
Obama will send up to 1,200 National Guard troops to the Southwest border
and seek increased spending on law enforcement there to combat drug smuggling
after demands from Republican and Democratic lawmakers that border security be
tightened.
The decision was disclosed by a Democratic lawmaker and confirmed by
administration officials after Mr. Obama met on Tuesday with Republican
senators, several of whom have demanded that troops be placed at the border. The
lawmakers learned of the plan after the meeting.
But the move also reflected political pressure in the presidentfs own party
with midterm election campaigns under way and with what is expected to be a
tumultuous debate on overhauling immigration
law coming up on Capitol Hill.
The issue has pushed Janet
Napolitano, the secretary of homeland security, into something of a corner.
As governor of Arizona, she demanded that Guard troops be put on the border. But
since joining the Obama administration, she has remained noncommittal about the
idea, saying as recently as a month ago that other efforts by Mr. Obama had made
the border gas secure now as it has ever been.h
The troops will be stationed in the four border states for a year, White
House officials said. It is not certain when they will arrive, the officials
said.
The troops will join a few hundred members of the Guard already assigned
there to help the police hunt for drug smugglers. The additional troops will
provide support to law enforcement officers by helping observe and monitor
traffic between official border crossings. They will also help analyze
trafficking patterns in the hope of intercepting illegal drug shipments.
Initial word of the deployment came not in a formal announcement from the
White House — indeed, it was left to administration officials speaking on the
condition of anonymity to fill in some details — but from a Democratic member of
the House from southern Arizona who is running in what is expected to be a
competitive race for re-election.
gThe White House is doing the right thing,h the congresswoman, Representative
Gabrielle Giffords, said in a statement announcing the decision. gArizonans know
that more boots on the ground means a safer and more secure border. Washington
heard our message.h
Senator John
McCain, an Arizona Republican whose opponent in a coming primary has
relentlessly criticized him on immigration, said Tuesday that he welcomed Mr.
Obamafs move but that it was gsimply not enough.h
Mr. McCain called for the introduction of 6,000 National Guard troops to
police the Southwestern border, with 3,000 for Arizona alone. In
a letter to Senator Carl
Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, two Obama
administration officials said that the proposal infringed on his role as
commander in chief and overlooked gains in border security.
Calls for sending the Guard to the border grew after the shooting death of an
Arizona rancher in March that the police suspect was carried out by someone
involved in smuggling. Advocates of the controversial Arizona state
law giving the police a greater role in immigration enforcement played up
what they described as a failure to secure the border as a reason to pass the
law.
Gov. Jan
Brewer of Arizona, a Republican who is running for a full term, has
requested Guard troops at the border but decided not to use her authority to do
it herself, citing the statefs tattered finances. The governors of New Mexico
and Texas also pleaded for troops.
From 2006 to 2008, President George
W. Bush made a larger deployment of Guard troops under a program called Operation Jump
Start. At its peak, 6,000 Guard troops at the border helped build roads and
fences in addition to backing up law enforcement officers.
Those Guard troops contributed to the arrest of more than 162,000 illegal
immigrants, the rescue of 100 people stranded in the desert and the seizure of
$69,000 in cash and 305,000 pounds of illicit drugs.
The soldiers will not directly make arrests of border crossers and smugglers,
something they are not trained to do.
Rick Nelson, a senior fellow who studies domestic security at the Center
for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said that the
additional spending could improve security over the long term but that the
National Guard deployment was not sufficient for gan overwhelming change that
will change the dynamics on the border.h
gThis is a symbolic gesture,h he said. gAt the end of the day, the face of
border security is still going to be Customs
and Border Protection, the law enforcement community. Itfs not going to be
the National Guard.h
Democrats and Republicans who agreed with the move rushed to take credit for
it, including Ms. Brewer, who said her signing of the new Arizona law had pushed
the administration.
gI am pleased that President Obama has now, apparently, agreed that our
nation must secure the border to address rampant border violence and illegal
immigration without other preconditions, such as passage of ecomprehensive
immigration reform,f h she said.
Terry Goddard, the Arizona attorney general and a Democrat running for
governor, released a statement with the headline gGoddard Secures Administration
Commitment for $500 million for National Guard, Border Security.h In an
interview, Mr. Goddard said, gI think it is a good indication that the
administration is taking us seriously.h
But some Democrats were skeptical.
Representative Harry E. Mitchell of Arizona, a Democrat facing re-election in
a Republican-leaning district, said it was ggoing to take much more to secure
the border.h He proposed a minimum of 3,000 troops.
Some Republicans said the deployment of the troops should not overshadow the
need for a comprehensive approach to the illegal immigration problem.
gArizona and other border states are grateful for the additional resources at
the border,h said Representative Jeff Flake of Arizona. gBut I hope that this is
merely the first step in a process that culminates in Congress passing
comprehensive immigration reform.h
Obama administration officials had resisted sending Guard troops to the
border but had never ruled it out. They pointed to a variety of improvements at
the border, including a record seizure of drug-related cash and guns, falling or
flat rates of violent crime in border towns, and record lows in the flow of
illegal immigrants across the border. Analysts give the dismal economy much of
the credit for that.
In his meeting with lawmakers on Tuesday, Mr. Obama said improving border
security alone would not reduce illegal immigration and reiterated that a
reworking of the immigration system could not be achieved without more
Republican support.
Carl Hulse contributed reporting from Washington.