Here is an excerpt from Howard Fischer's article in the East Valley Tribune:
"New laws to regulate gun sales in this country are not the answer to increasing violence in Mexico and along the border, Gov. Jan Brewer told federal lawmakers Monday. Brewer, testifying before a field hearing of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, said a focus on new gun laws ignores the underlying problem: the failure of the federal government to secure the border. She said the problems of violence will go away once the government does its job... Brewer said it’s not bad enough that the federal government is not adequately guarding the border. “It is time for the federal government to address the immense fiscal burden that border states are unfairly shouldering in combatting illegal immigration,” she said. “To date, the federal government is not bearing its full responsibility to law enforcement, education, health care, human services and the corrections system directly tied to illegal immigration and human smuggling.” The governor’s testimony came three weeks after the U.S. Department of Defense essentially rebuffed her request for an additional 250 National Guard soldiers to be stationed along the border... Attorney General Terry Goddard, who also testified Monday, said he did not support Brewer’s request... Goddard echoed the comments made last week by former governor and fellow Democrat Janet Napolitano, now homeland security chief, who said putting soldiers along the border only makes sense if they have something concrete to do." Link to Full Article
Analysis: There are two main issues brought up in this article that I want to address. First is the impact of border violence on state and federal resources other than law enforcement. You don't read about this very much because we're often wrapped around the axle of physical violence that our cops have to deal with - and rightly so. But we don't think about the impact on social services, corrections, hospitals and clinics, and charities that either deal with the criminal element or deal with victims of human trafficking, kidnapping, etc. I refuse to address the illegal immigration issue because most people that follow it have VERY strong opinions about it, and I don't want to alienate any readers that might want to learn something by continuing to read my posts. Regardless, I'm happy that Governor Brewer explained how the border violence issue is more far-reaching and insidious than many of us realize.
Second, I want to talk about the deployment of National Guard troops - specifically, the question of what they'd be doing if they were sent to the border. I read the comments by Frothingham, Lieberman, and Goddard, and just shook my head in disbelief. You'd think no state had ever sent National Guard troops to the border before to augment federal agencies; apparently they haven't done their homework or talked to any other legislators from California. In 2006, the California National Guard organized TASK FORCE VISTA in response to the Governor’s support to the President’s request for assistance to the US Customs and Border Patrol agency. Over 1,300 Army and Air National Guard volunteers supported that mission in eight general mission areas, to include operations, air support, ground transportation, command and control, base operations, maintenance, civil engineering, and ports of entry augmentation. This was called Operation JUMPSTART, and wrapped up in the summer of 2008 because the President denied Governor Schwarzenegger's request to extend the Guard's tour for a few months. From what I remember of this, the biggest benefit of the Guard's deployment was their assistance to the Border Patrol in the form of many extra sets of eyes. Because of posse comitatus, Guard troops can't arrest illegals - or enforce any other civilian laws - but they were able to act as spotters so Border Patrol agents could respond more quickly to illegal crossings or other incidents. Scopes and sensors are all well and good, but in many instances, nothing replaces a warm body when it comes to detecting something out of the ordinary.
I'm very disappointed that Governor Brewer's request was apparently brushed off, and concerned that legislators seem so ignorant of the potential uses of Guard troops along the border, especially when they've been sent before. I hope she keeps at it, and that Congress gets quickly educated on the past benefits of Guard deployments to assist with border security.
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