Poll ask about Nat'l Guard patrolling border, but that's not Bush's plan

[ProSense]

"Would you support or oppose using National Guard troops to patrol the U.S. border with Mexico?" Conducted 5/12-14/06; N=508; MoE ± 4.5

Support 74%
Oppose 25%
Unsure 2%

http://www.pollingreport.com/immigration.htm

Nation

Chertoff: Guard Won't Arrest Illegal Immigrants

by Michele Norris

All Things Considered, May 16, 2006 · President Bush's newly announced plan to bolster the southern border and offer guest-worker programs strikes a middle ground in the debate over immigration policy, says Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff

Snip...

Chertoff also said the National Guard will not be involved in arresting people who have entered the country illegally. That will be left to the U.S. Border Patrol. Instead, he says, the Guard will be used in areas where they already have training: building infrastructure, for example, or conducting helicopter surveillance.

And, for this budget year, he said the billions of dollars President Bush wants to direct to the border would be money shifted from other uses. Next year, the White House will ask Congress for increased funding, Chertoff said.


http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5409107&ft=1&f=1003

Border Patrol: National Guard would have little effect

May 16,2006
Cari Hammerstrom
Monitor Staff Writer

McALLEN — Border Patrol officials say they wouldn’t turn down the help of the 6,000 National Guardsmen that President Bush plans to deploy to the nation’s southern border, but said their assistance wouldn’t be of great help either.

"We wouldn’t turn it down," said T.J. Bonner, National Border Patrol Council president. "But it’s of marginal value. It’s being touted as something that could free up all these Border Patrol agents."

There are already a couple of hundred agents helping the Border Patrol by serving in support roles, but there aren’t 6,000 positions for the guardsmen to fill, he said.

Bonner dismissed Bush’s five-part plan, which was outlined Monday primetime in a live address to the American people, as a "political smokescreen" to appease those who are calling for more border security.


http://www.themonitor.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=/GlobalTemplates/Details.cfm&StoryID=13193&Section=Local

[MSgt213]

1. Your right. They won't be patroling. They are support. No guns.

[moondust]

2. One big photo op.

Leading up to November the MSM--especially Faux--will show lots of footage of the NG on the border. Election year politics.