The troops are to be rotated in two- or three-week stints. Over the course of the first year this will involve about 100,000 of the Guard’s 400,000 troops, Paul McHale, assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense, said in a May 18 news briefing. He said the temporary deployment—up to 6,000 in the first year and 3,000 in the second—will back up the Border Patrol as the federal cop force is expanded.

The deployment builds on steps taken under the Northern Command to lay the groundwork for greater militarization of the U.S. borders. Northcom, initiated by the Clinton administration, establishes for the first time a U.S. military command structure covering the entire continental United States. In a May 21 speech, former president William Clinton endorsed the White House’s immigration proposals. “I basically think President Bush has done a good job with this,” he stated, the Associated Press reported. In a May 15 speech Bush called for legislation to reinforce the Border Patrol, deploy National Guard troops to the border on a temporary basis, establish a “temporary worker” program, and allow for many undocumented immigrants to gain permanent residency under certain conditions.  
 
English as the ‘national language’
During the Congressional debate on an immigration bill, the Senate also voted 63-34 May 18 to approve a proposal by Sen. James Inhofe to make English the nation’s “national language.”

In an indication of the current divisions among the U.S. rulers on the immigration issue, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid termed this amendment “racist” in a speech on the Senate floor. “I think it’s directed basically to people who speak Spanish,” he said.

In a second amendment, the Senate voted to declare English the “common and unifying language” of the United States.

The day before, the Senate unanimously approved an amendment barring people with a past felony conviction or three misdemeanor convictions from becoming legal U.S. residents. The Senate also voted in favor of building a 370-mile fence along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexican border as well as 500 miles of vehicle barriers.

Meanwhile, 91 undocumented immigrants, crammed inside a box truck, were detained by Border Patrol cops May 18 near the border town of Sonoita, Arizona. The “coyote” driver escaped and the cops jailed all the workers, who are reportedly from Mexico and Central America.

At the Pentagon news conference, McHale said the proposed National Guard deployment to the border will include “surveillance and reconnaissance, engineering support, transportation support, logistics, vehicle dismantling, medical support, barrier and infrastructure construction, road building, and language support.” Guard troops are to begin arriving for this mission starting in early June, said Lt. Gen. Clyde Vaughn, director of the Army National Guard.

In May 17 testimony before the Senate Appropriation Committee’s defense subcommittee, Rumsfeld said, “Military forces will not be involved in apprehension or detention of illegal immigrants.” The deployment is to be “on an interim basis as the Department of Homeland Security ramps up to a greater level of capability,” the defense secretary said, referring to the beefing up of the Border Patrol.

McHale said the border mission will not only reinforce border “security” but will provide training “from a long-term perspective, to be better prepared for overseas warfighting, or domestic consequence management.”

He added, “The National Guard missions will be substantially similar to the annual training missions executed as part of our counter-drug program along the southwest border during the past two decades.” Some 400 Guard troops are already involved in antidrug operations on the border.
 
 
Related articles:
N.Y. march calls for legalization of immigrants
No to militarization of border  
 
 
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