Officials: National Guard troops headed to border next month:
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(CNN) -- U.S. National Guard forces will begin deploying along the U.S. border with Mexico in August and will be fully trained and deployed by the end of the month, government officials announced Monday.
Some 1,200 Army and Air National Guard troops will be in place for a year to assist the Border Patrol in monitoring and capturing illegal immigrants crossing the border into the United States.
They will served as a "gap-filler" while the Customs and Border Patrol agency hires additional staff to fill the demand in protection along the almost 2,000-mile-long southern border with Mexico.
The troops, from the four border states, will be fully trained and in place in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas by September 1, according to Gen. Craig McKinley, commander of the National Guard.
The Guard troops will not be involved in law enforcement activities such as arrests of illegal immigrants, but will assist the Border Patrol in looking for the illegal border crossers and smugglers as well as in intelligence gathering. The airmen and soldiers will be armed, but they will be limited by rules of engagement that allow them to shoot only to defend themselves, McKinley said.
"The rules for the use of force will be well-coordinated, and they're the same as our counternarcotics teams that are there now -- for self-preservation only, self-defense only," he said.
The point also was emphasized by Alan D. Bersin, commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. "The National Guard is there to support the efforts of law enforcement, not to have a direct law enforcement role, not to confront, unless confronted, any particular threat," he said.
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(Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act)
LINK
(CNN) -- U.S. National Guard forces will begin deploying along the U.S. border with Mexico in August and will be fully trained and deployed by the end of the month, government officials announced Monday.
Some 1,200 Army and Air National Guard troops will be in place for a year to assist the Border Patrol in monitoring and capturing illegal immigrants crossing the border into the United States.
They will served as a "gap-filler" while the Customs and Border Patrol agency hires additional staff to fill the demand in protection along the almost 2,000-mile-long southern border with Mexico.
The troops, from the four border states, will be fully trained and in place in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas by September 1, according to Gen. Craig McKinley, commander of the National Guard.
The Guard troops will not be involved in law enforcement activities such as arrests of illegal immigrants, but will assist the Border Patrol in looking for the illegal border crossers and smugglers as well as in intelligence gathering. The airmen and soldiers will be armed, but they will be limited by rules of engagement that allow them to shoot only to defend themselves, McKinley said.
"The rules for the use of force will be well-coordinated, and they're the same as our counternarcotics teams that are there now -- for self-preservation only, self-defense only," he said.
The point also was emphasized by Alan D. Bersin, commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. "The National Guard is there to support the efforts of law enforcement, not to have a direct law enforcement role, not to confront, unless confronted, any particular threat," he said.
more at link
(Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act)
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