Concerns raised over Guard border plan

"Immigation"

05/14/2006

WASHINGTON (CNN)—Mexican President Vicente Fox telephoned President Bush Sunday to raise concerns about the possible deployment of U.S. National Guard troops along the border, Fox’s office said.

In the half-hour call, Fox told Bush he was worried about any possible U.S. move to “militarize” the roughly 2,000-mile border, one of the longest unfortified frontiers in the world.

White House spokeswoman Maria Tamburri said Bush told Fox that what his administration is considering “is not a militarization of the border, but support of Border Patrol capabilities on a temporary basis by National Guard personnel.”

“The president reiterated to President Fox his commitment to comprehensive immigration reform,” Tamburri said.

The proposal has drawn criticism from both major parties in the United States, with one key Republican senator saying Sunday he has “a lot of questions” about the idea.

But Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist dismissed the concerns, saying the use of National Guard troops is the only short-term solution to stem the flow of illegal immigrants.

“The only thing that we can do to secure our borders right now is to give our states help, and that is best done through the National Guard,” the Tennessee Republican told CNN’s “Late Edition.”

President Bush is scheduled to speak to the nation Monday night from the Oval Office about immigration and border security.

Frist did not say whether the president will mention the proposal to bolster border security with National Guard troops.

Bush has discussed the “stopgap” proposal to bolster border security with National Guard troops, along with “a lot of [other] ideas,” with members of Congress, national security adviser Stephen Hadley told CNN.

Bush has not made a decision on whether to implement the program, Hadley said, stressing that it “is not a new” idea.

“It’s not about militarization of the border. It’s about assisting the civilian border patrol in doing their job, providing intelligence, providing support, logistics support and training,” Hadley said.

Under the plan, Pentagon sources have said the federal government will foot the bill for activating several thousand additional National Guard troops to augment security along the U.S.-Mexico border in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

The troops would remain under control of the states’ governors and would be limited to a supporting role, assisting civilian authorities with logistics, intelligence and surveillance, the sources said. But the federal government, not the states, would fund the operation.

In Sunday’s telephone call, Fox’s office said Bush told him “what was being analyzed was the administrative and logistical support by the National Guard, not by the Army, to police the border.”

Both leaders agreed that solving the issues of border control and migration is a joint responsibility that can be resolved “only through integral and comprehensive reform,” the statement said.

“The two leaders are in agreement in pointing out that the problems of the border are shared tasks and joint responsibilities,” it added.

Key Republican skeptical

Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican, reacted cautiously to the proposal.

“I think we have to be very careful here,” Hagel said on ABC’s “This Week.”

“That’s not the role of our National Guard.”

Hagel, a sponsor of compromise immigration legislation before the Senate, said the U.S. military is already stretched “as thin as we’ve ever seen it in modern times” and expressed skepticism.

“I’ll listen to the president, but I’ve got a lot of questions,” Hagel said.

That sentiment echoed Friday’s comments by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, who told CNN En Español that National Guard forces were too “overextended” and “depleted” by service in Iraq and the Gulf Coast to secure the border.

“We have thousands and thousands of guard and reserve troops in Iraq; now we’re going to ask them to go to the border?” the Nevada Democrat said. “I don’t think they are able to do that.”

Frist dismissed Reid’s comment as “whining” and “moaning.”

“We hear it from the American people, we’ve got millions of people coming across that border—first and foremost, secure the border, whatever it takes,” he said.

“Everything else we’ve done has failed. We’ve got to face that.” (More from Frist)

Active-duty U.S. troops are barred from domestic law enforcement by a Reconstruction-era law known as Posse Comitatus, but National Guard troops under state control can perform some law enforcement functions.

Frist restated his confidence that an immigration bill proposal will be completed before Memorial Day, May 29.

Sen. Joe Biden, a Delaware Democrat, told ABC, “I think it’s more likely than not” that it will be law by the November midterm elections.