WASHINGTON, - An agreement to send hundreds of additional National
Guardsmen to the southwestern U.S. border is one part of a comprehensive
approach needed for immigration reform, President Barack Obama said today.
Obama spoke briefly to reporters about his decision announced earlier this
week to authorize as many as 1,200 Guard members to the border during a White
House news conference that had focused on the oil spill off the Louisiana
coast.
Asked by a reporter about the Guard-deployment plan in light of a new Arizona
law to crack down on illegal immigration, Obama said the plan was shaped last
year.
"So this is not simply in response to the Arizona law, the president said.
The plan became public earlier this week after Obama met with Arizona Sen.
John McCain, who has requested more federal resources along the border.
Obama called immigration "inherently the job of the federal government," and
said sending Guardsmen would be a basic step in securing the border before
other reforms are implemented through legislation.
"I don't see these issues solely in isolation," Obama said of the layers of
concerns along the border. "We're not going to solve the problem solely by
sending National Guard troops down there. We're going to do it by creating a
fair and humane immigration framework."
National Guard troops can help with intelligence work, drug and human
trafficking interdiction, and relieving border guards on security tasks so
they can do more law enforcement, the president said. "So there are a lot of
functions that they can carry out that helps leverage and increase the
resources available in this area," he said.
In 2006, about 6,000 National Guard members participated in Operation Jump
Start in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas. In accordance with
federal law, Guardsmen do not serve in direct law enforcement roles, but
provide reinforcement to the U.S. Border Patrol. Their missions included
engineering, aviation, entry identification teams and a wide range of
technical, logistical and administrative support.
National Security Advisor James L. Jones and Deputy National Security Advisor
for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism and Presidential Assistant John O.
Brennan sent a May 25 letter to Michigan Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the
Senate Armed Services Committee, explaining the administration's decision not
to send a specific number of Guardsmen, as one Senate amendment calls for.
More than 300 National Guardsmen already are working in counternarcotics duty
along the border, they wrote, and more than $1 billion has been secured to
deal with drugs and violence along the border.
In authorizing as many as 1,200 Guardsmen to address "evolving border-related
challenges," the administration is avoiding deploying an arbitrary number of
personnel, the letter says.
"The president is committed to a strategic approach, consisting of a
requirements-based, temporary utilization of up to 1,200 additional National
Guard troops to bridge to longer-term enhancements in border protection and
[federal] law enforcement personnel," the letter says.