The plan being floated by the Obama administration to send 1,500 National Guard troops to the border would be a political move to look tough while sacrificing border communities to fear of immigrants and Mexico, said Fernando Garcia, executive director of the Border Network for Human Rights.
He said that Obama may be hoping that if he takes a hard line on the border he'll appease enough anti-immigrant and closed-borders members of Congress to give comprehensive immigration reform, touted by the president and some Congressmen -- including U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes -- after a White House meeting last week.
Reyes said after the meeting that comprehensive reform had to include three elements, border security, a path to citizenship, and a new guest worker program.
Reyes would not comment on the proposal to send 1,500 troops to the border. NPT received this reply to a query: "Since the White House has not made an official announcement, the Congressman has no comment on any potential plans that may or may not be in the works."
The Associated Press reported Tuesday that "Senior administration officials said the Guard program will last no longer than a year and would build on an existing counter-drug operation. They said the program, which would largely be federally funded, would draw on National Guard volunteers from the four border states. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the details have not been finalized.
"Officials said the program would mainly seek out guard members for surveillance, intelligence analysis and aviation support. Guard units would also supply ground troops who could assist at border crossings and with land and air transportation."
Garcia said that "the idea of bringing the military is that there's an enemy there, we're going to fight and there's a war. So if you ask 'who is the enemy?' the answer becomes immigrants are the enemy and that is a distorted position we are concerned the administration is pushing."
He said that "We need to first really engage in comprehensive immigration reform that takes the pressure off the border substantially by legalizing and formalizing the legal flow of workers into the country."
Garcia, noting that the vast majority of immigrants apprehended at the border are workers, not criminals or terrorists, said if the workers were given a way to get to the work, it would allow law enforcement, not the military, to do its job.
"We have enough people to be really precise about our targets, the real criminal elements, such as the drug dealers," he said.
The Washington Post reported that there is some disagreement about the proposal, but not over whether or not to send the troops.
The article states that: "The debate has engaged a pair of powerful personalities, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, in what their subordinates describe as a turf fight over which agency should direct the use of troops to assist in the fight against Mexican cartels and which one should pay for them." [link]
According to the article, Obama seems to be playing to both sides of the argument over whether or not troops should be sent to the border. The article states: "President Obama has signaled that he is open to the idea, asking Congress for $250 million to deploy the National Guard while also saying he was 'not interested in militarizing the border.' "
The National Guard has played a role in support in specific operations in recent years, such as Operation Jump Start, in which Guardsmen searched the Internet for news articles and other data to support Customs and Border Protection analysts, among other duties. {link]
However, the role of the military has been sharply curtailed since the 1997 killing of Esequiel Hernandez, an 18-year-old who was tending goats near Redford, which is on the Big Bend more than 200 miles from El Paso. Hernandez was shot by a group of Marines who were part of a surveillance operation. [link]
Meanwhile, on the other side of the border, the militarization continues to deepen. A little more than a week ago Mexico announced an additional 1,500 troops were headed to Juarez, even as the violence intensified in June and complaints of military abuses started to rise as well. [link]
