WASHINGTON, D.C. - Along with several other initiatives, the Department of Homeland Security is "still considering" the use of National Guard troops along the U.S.-Mexico Border, the DHS secretary said in a White House press briefing today.
"This issue requires immediate action," said Janet Napolitano. "We are guided by two very clear objectives. First, we are going to do everything we can to prevent the violence in Mexico from spilling over across the border.
"And second, we will do all in our power to help President Calderón crack down on these drug cartels in Mexico."
Napolitano plans to meet with Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Thursday. Perry has previously expressed the need for more Guard troops or border agents along its border with Mexico to disrupt operations of the Mexican Mafia, Texas Syndicate, Barrio Azteca, MS-13 and other violent transnational gangs.
Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona has asked Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates for more Guard troops for the federally funded Joint Counter Narco-terrorism Task Force. That force currently includes about 150 Army and Air National Guard members in Arizona.
Earlier this month, Gates said on "Meet the Press" that the U.S. is now in a better position to help Mexico. "Some of the old biases against cooperation with our - between our militaries and so on I think are being set aside," he said. "Providing them with "¦ training, with "¦ resources, with reconnaissance and surveillance kinds of capabilities; but just cooperation, including in intelligence."