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US Troops Headed to Mexican Border

National Guard presence to be especially strong in Arizona

By Jane Yager,  Newser Staff

Posted Jul 20, 2010 4:30 AM CDT
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(Newser) – National Guard troops are headed to the Mexican border next month to beef up security along the border fence. As part of President Obama's new border plan, the 1,200 troops will spend a year in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, where they'll help border patrol agents monitor and prevent illegal border crossings, CNN reports. The troops will be a gap-filler while the border patrol hires and trains additional staff.

While the troops will be armed, "the rules for the use of force will be well-coordinated, and they're the same as our counternarcotics teams that are there now—for self-preservation only, self-defense only," the head of the National Guard said. The deployment is "placing a particular emphasis on the Tucson sector in Arizona, an area favored by smugglers and the principal point of illegal entry," a Homeland Security official said.

In this May 31, 2006, file photo, a US Border Patrol Agent apprehends two undocumented aliens along the international border in Nogales, Ariz., as a group gathers along the fence in Nogales, Mexico.
In this May 31, 2006, file photo, a US Border Patrol Agent apprehends two undocumented aliens along the international border in Nogales, Ariz., as a group gathers along the fence in Nogales, Mexico.   (AP Photo/Matt York, File)
In this June 19, 2008 file photo, US Border Patrol agent Santos Flores walks in front of the old border fence, left, where it meets a 5-mile section of new border fence at the border in Nogales, AZ.
In this June 19, 2008 file photo, US Border Patrol agent Santos Flores walks in front of the old border fence, left, where it meets a 5-mile section of new border fence at the border in Nogales, AZ.   (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 9 comments
Bale
Jul 20, 2010 1:17 PM CDT
1,200 isn't enough to change anything. Its window-dressing, and Obama knows it.
JoeQ
Jul 20, 2010 11:29 AM CDT
LOL. I wonder where all these guys are going to stay. What a money sink. Good for the restaurants and bars and landlords, I suppose.
odowd80
Jul 20, 2010 8:27 AM CDT
All conservatives should be 100% against this action. We're broke and can't afford it, remember? We have to pay down the deficit. C'mon conservatives, lets hear that outrage.
Politics • US

 
Mexico • border control • Arizona • National Guard • Mexican border • illegal immigration • Tucson, Arizona • US-Mexico border

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