1,200 National Guard troops to be deployed to border
Posted - 5/25/2010 at 2:24PM

WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords Tuesday announced the White House has agreed to her requests to deploy National Guard troops to the U.S. border with Mexico.
Giffords called for the Guard's deployment immediately after the March 27, 2010, murder of Cochise County rancher Rob Krentz.

Giffords also says in a statement Tuesday that President Barack Obama will request $500 million in funding for border security.

In 2006, President George W. Bush sent thousands of troops to the border to perform support duties that tie up immigration agents. The troops wouldn't perform significant law enforcement duties.

That program has since ended, and politicians in border states have called for troops to be sent there to curb human and drug smuggling and prevent Mexico's drug violence from spilling over into the United States.

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Obama Authorizes Deployment of More National Guard Troops Along Border

Obama has authorized the call-up of as many as 1,200 National Guard troops along the U.S. border with Mexico to assist with border protection and enforcement activities there, officials say.

The troops, expected to be spread along the southern border of all four southwestern states, would largely assist border patrol agents and local law enforcement by providing intelligence and intelligence analysis, surveillance and reconnaissance support, and the ability to train additional Customs and Border Protection agents, sources say.

Deployment of National Guard troops would "provide immediate enhancement to the unprecedented and ongoing border protection and security efforts that over the last 16 months have increased pressure on illegal trafficking organizations," one administration official said.

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Hey Obama, how about adding two zeros [120,000 troops] to that number?

Brew wrote on May 25^th, 2010 at 3:43pm:

You kill,  I bout choked on my cheese burger.

       Potter

Guiseppi wrote on May 25^th, 2010 at 6:18pm:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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These blue flags, which are posted next to containers every several hundred feet, offer water to travelers (legal or illegal) who pass through the Yuha Desert. The word "water" is written in English, Spanish, or both languages. Photo taken 03/26/06.

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Volunteers, with federal government permission, place jugs of drinking water in the remote desert in an effort to reduce the number of people who die attempting to cross the border illegally each year.

Despite the dangers, thousands of illegal immigrants

choose

to cross the border in the desert to avoid intense patrols to the east around the town of Calexico and to the west in San Diego.

The group, founded by Hunter in 2000, is called the Water Station project. Its name springs from water stations the group builds a few miles north of the U.S. border with Mexico.

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I wanted to learn about a group called Border Angels that, among other things, sets out water in the desert areas of the 66-mile San Diego sector.
Another group, Water Station, takes care of 340 water stations in the El Centro sector, while the group Humane Border sees to more than 80 water stations in Arizona. Usually, gallon bottles of water are placed in blue plastic barrels topped with a blue flag at the end of a 30-foot pole or with a flashing red light like those used on bikes.
The water stations tend to be along power lines or paths that migrants have taken in the past. In Imperial Valley about 40 are located at the edge of the desert along Route 98 between Calexico and Interstate 8.

I'd talk to the migrants about how much they needed and where they crossed, and so we put water in those places. Enrique also puts out a big box with snacks and jackets. When we see that things have been taken, we replace them.
Yes, the water makes a difference. I've met people who have gotten water, and they say what a difference it has made. Some people have vandalized the water stations. We don't know who, but Border Patrol agents told us it was the Minutemen. The Border Patrol doesn't interfere with the
water stations. One time they had arrested two people who needed water, and we gave it to them. The Minutemen are really bad people. They have no humanity. One time they tried to block an ambulance taking migrants to the hospital. How do the Minutemen have so much money? Who gives it to them?
House Bill 4437 would criminalize immigrants, and
humanitarians putting out water would be charged with aiding and abetting. We would still put out water. We don't care what the law says. We're responding to God's law, and as a nurse I've seen much life and death. In my heart I cannot leave someone dying. I don't care what the law says. I think the solution is not more walls and to bring in the National Guard. They need a bigger Border Patrol, but they should also give amnesty to people who are already here.

We parked the cars and got out, grabbing gallon jugs of water. The heat at over 3000 feet seemed worse than at sea level. The border was about two miles to the south. Trudging up a hill, I saw the green flag of the water station through the brush. The station itself consisted of two cardboard boxes under a small pine. A dog barked near a small house 100 yards away.
Taped to a cable supporting a utility pole was a red signal light. Enrique said they replaced the batteries every two weeks. He had a plan to power the lights with solar batteries, which, sad to say, would cost money. He placed
a wooden cross on the water barrel "so people won't think it's a trap." Then he told a story about a vandalized water station, where someone had put up signs saying "poison." Ricardo filmed the bunch of us milling around, and the other reporters asked Enrique questions. There were five water stations in this area, each with 20 gallons of water. Enrique pointed to three blue plastic rings on the ground, broken seals indicating that someone had made use of the water. He kicked the box before opening it to scare the spiders.
Once he had been bitten or stung by a spider lurking in a water station and had had to stay in bed for six weeks. He warned us to watch out for scorpions and snakes, and we all studied the ground. He decided not to check on the water station near the small house, because of the dog; he doesn't like barking dogs. He described finding two Chinese out here sometime ago and giving them water. They asked him to take them to the bus station, but he refused. "It would be breaking the law," he said.

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