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 News from Around the Americas | May 2006 
Bush Orders Up to 6,000 National Guard Troops to US-Mexico Border
 AFP
| Editor's Comment: With revelations of hand-written notes by Vice President Dick Cheney detailing his role in the outing of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame already being covered by the US Mainstream Media (MSM), and the indictment of Karl Rove still too hot for the MSM to touch, the timing of this announcement by George W. Bush does raise questions. Critics of the administration are already charging that Bush is using US military action to divert MSM press coverage and public attention away from the scandals rocking the White House.
- ma/TO (AFP/Paul J. Richards) |
President George W. Bush ordered up to 6,000 National Guard troops to the US-Mexico border, citing an "urgent" need to stem the flow of millions of illegal immigrants into the United States.
"The need to secure our border is urgent," the US president said in a rare, nationally broadcast primetime speech, underscoring the importance of the issue.
"In coordination with governors, up to 6,000 Guard members will be deployed to our southern border" for up to one year, Bush said.
The National Guard troops will assist border patrol forces in operating surveillance systems, analyzing intelligence, installing fences and vehicle barriers and other tasks, he said.
The president stressed that border agents will lead the operations, and that the National Guard units will not be involved in direct law enforcement activities.
He also emphasized that the new immigration enforcement duties would in no way interfere with other functions carried out by the National Guard.
"It is important for Americans to know that we have enough Guard forces to win the war on terror, respond to natural disasters, and help secure our border," Bush said.
Bush Admits Broken Border, to Send Guard Troops
Steve Holland - Reuters
President Bush admitted the U.S.-Mexico border was broken on Monday and said he will deploy up to 6,000 National Guard troops there as he responded to mounting pressure from conservative allies to take tougher steps against illegal immigration.
"We do not yet have full control of the border, and I am determined to change that," Bush said in a prime-time Oval Office address timed to get out in front of a U.S. Senate debate on a sweeping immigration overhaul.
Bush was trying to shore up support from conservatives demanding a tougher border enforcement policy. But to their chagrin, he also insisted on a temporary guest-worker program for illegal immigrants that would let them fill jobs Americans refuse.
"To secure the border effectively we must reduce the numbers of people trying to sneak across," he said in defense of the guest-worker plan that his critics call amnesty.
With Mexico worried about a militarized border, White House officials said the up to 6,000 National Guard troops would be used to support U.S. Border Patrol agents in such duties as surveillance and logistics and would not conduct patrols.
"The United States is not going to militarize the southern border. Mexico is our neighbor and our friend," Bush said.
The deployments are likely to begin in early June and up to 6,000 would be used for a year. They will be reduced as U.S. Border Patrol agents increase their numbers by 6,000 by the end of 2008 -- to 18,000 from the current 12,000.
The whole two-year package will cost about $1.9 billion, and White House officials said they would pay for it by redirecting money for the U.S. military included in an emergency spending plan being negotiated on Capitol Hill.
Bush was hoping to influence a Senate debate this week on a sweeping immigration overhaul that would couple tougher border enforcement with a temporary guest-worker plan and create a mechanism for many of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the country to legalize their status.
CONSERVATIVE OPPOSITION
But the guest-worker plan faces fierce resistance among his conservative Republican allies in the House of Representatives, which has passed legislation dealing only with border enforcement, a plan that has drawn sharp protests from thousands of pro-immigration demonstrators in recent weeks.
The House and Senate versions would have to be reconciled to produce a final bill Bush can sign. At least one House conservative was unswayed.
Colorado Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo said he welcomed increased enforcement, "but if the president thinks by taking one step forward with enforcement the House will follow him two steps backwards with amnesty, he's confusing us with the Senate."
Bush's backing for the proposed law is costing him support among some conservatives who view it as a type of amnesty for illegal immigrants -- a characterization Bush rejected.
"We must face the reality that millions of illegal immigrants are already here," Bush said. "They should not be given an automatic path to citizenship. This is amnesty, and I oppose it."
Bush also said newcomers have a duty to assimilate into American society by learning English and U.S. history and called on activists on all sides of the issue to conduct the debate in a respectful way.
"Feelings run deep on this issue," he said.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, told CNN that Bush was late to the border enforcement debate, "so now, coming forward at this time, we're a little suspect."
The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, a citizens' volunteer border patrol group, called Bush's plan "nothing more than a political ploy."
The prime-time address was Bush's first in the Oval Office for a speech on a domestic topic.
(Additional reporting by Tabassum Zakaria, Matt Spetalnick and Will Dunham) |
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