printWSJ: “President Barack Obama will send 1,200 National Guard troops to the Mexican border, an administration official said Tuesday, following calls from politicians in both parties to step up the fight against illegal immigration and border violence.”
Here’s the rub: “The troops would not act in a law-enforcement capacity, but would provide intelligence, surveillance and training.”
All code for making sure a couple of Ramoses and Compeans don’t shoot an invader in the bottom. What will ensue will be the prosecution of the Joe Arpaios of the south-west.
These guards will be instructed to act as glorified traffic cops—properly directing the flood of people into the US—who’re on the border so that Barack (didn’t Bush pull a similar stunt?) can say, “Under my administration, enforcement on the Mexican border peeked.”
The presence of a National Guard crippled by protocol and PC laws designed to protect trespassers—this is nothing more than a political ploy.
What of ‘Posse Comitatus‘? I’m not sure.
Update I (May 26): I wish readers (okay, Huggs) would fight the blind spot they have about Bush, who would wrestle a crocodile for an illegal alien, provided the latter was of low character and criminally inclined, of course.
See the three amigos in “A Vacation From Reality.” While in reading mode, I recommend “José Medellín’s Dead; Cue The Mariachi Band.”
Update II: The Bush record is similar, so you know that sending the Guards to pose on the border and dreaming up a “comprehensive approach to illegal immigration” are quite compatible.
The NYT: From 2006 to 2008, President George W. Bush made a larger deployment of Guard troops under a program called Operation Jump Start. At its peak, 6,000 Guard troops at the border helped build roads and fences in addition to backing up law enforcement officers.
Those Guard troops contributed to the arrest of more than 162,000 illegal immigrants, the rescue of 100 people stranded in the desert and the seizure of $69,000 in cash and 305,000 pounds of illicit drugs.
The soldiers will not directly make arrests of border crossers and smugglers, something they are not trained to do.
The Washington Times seconds the case made on this blog:
The decision puts Mr. Obama squarely in the footsteps of his predecessor, President George W. Bush, who in 2006, just as the Senate was beginning an immigration overhaul debate, announced his own deployment of National Guard forces to the border.
Mr. Bush sent National Guard troops to build fencing and other infrastructure and help the U.S. Border Patrol with surveillance and support tasks, though they were not allowed to enforce immigration laws. Mr. Bush called the troops a temporary measure to fill a gap while he boosted the number of Border Patrol agents.
But the troops faced so many restrictions on their activities, including carrying weapons, that some Border Patrol agents said they found themselves assigned to what they called “nanny patrol,” which amounted to protecting the National Guard troops.
The Posse Comitatus Act does not apply. As Ms. Mercer correctly noted, the troops sent to the border won’t actually be doing anything. This is only a political ploy, as it was when George W. Bush did it. Has anyone else noticed that, despite campain slogans, there’s precious little difference between Obama and his predecessor?
Even if troops were deployed properly, i.e., stationed along the border with orders to kill anything sneaking across from the south, the Posse Comitatus Act would still not apply. Defending the country from invaders is a legitimate function of the military, and we are indeed facing an invasion.
Political ploy is right. Obama makes no bones about wanting the millions of illegals to become good democrat voters and SEIU members. He has sucked up to the Mexican president in a most sickening way. Why would anybody actually think he would want to do anything about securing the border? I’m glad I’m not one of those national guard troops who are going to be stuck down there as losing players in a phoney political game.
In addition, I read where Calderone has publicly given a laundry list of things that the National Guard should be allowed to do but not any immigration enforcement. I’m sure that when Obama finishes changing his shorts he’ll get right on with complying with Calderones instructions.
Ilana,
You write:
“What of ‘Posse Comitatus‘? I’m not sure.”
Speaking from personal experience, I can tell you that that’s the reason the troops will engage in “intelligence, surveillance and training” rather than “law enforcement.”
The dodge is at least 20 years old. It was in use back when I worked Joint Task Force Six “counter-narcotics” missions; some other JTF-6 missions were “border security” instead.
The way it works is this: A military unit goes to the designated area for “training.” They establish liaison with local law enforcement, then they start running infantry patrols and such … essentially the same kind of training they’d be doing back at their home base.
The difference is that if these troops stumble on a patch of marijuana or an immigrant moving north or whatever, the law enforcement folks are instantly available. Someone is waiting monitoring that radio frequency or waiting for that phone call.
As to whether or not an entrepreneur attempting LEAVE the country is an “invader” subject to attempted execution by lying thugs like Ramos and Compean, well, I guess that’s a different subject.
Obama reads the opinion polls and he also has no intention of solving the problem as opposed to “appearing to be concerned”. 100,000 invisible tripwires, 100,000 visible cameras, 10,000 infrared cameras, 100,000 microphones, numerous seismic sensors, and 2000 miles of two layered (70 meter apart) 10 meter high highway barrier walls should cost less than welfare for an extra 100,000 people. Add monitoring stations every 4 miles and some patrols. I mention this stuff to hear the following:
“It’s ugly” – so paint pin-ups on the wall! This is not a tourist spot!
“It won’t work” – well, it does in Israel. It worked the opposite way in Eastern Europe.
But mostly, the objections are from those who want the unlimited, lawless flood to keep coming into the country. Yes, it will not stop everyone such as all those Canadians flooding over from the other side (all 100 of them!) or someone arriving in a Kon-tiki raft. But rather than try, our Obama and most Republicrats talk of amnesty (which only provides even more incentive to cross), refuse to pass a national version of Proposition 187, and denounce Arizona for complying with federal law.
Here’s an amusing news story: Fewer illegal border crossings mean fewer Goldwater Range interruptions. One might draw various conclusions from it, including:
a) the military can halt illegal immigration when and where it truly wishes to do so, or,
b) the government takes much less interest in defending America from invasion than in fighting its pointless wars in the sandbox, or,
c) the government takes much more interest in the protection of illegal aliens bucking for a Darwin Award than in the protection of American citizens, or,
d) a, b, and c.
I believe that the correct answer is d.
Here is a nice writeup by a former Marine on using the Army to guard the border.
http://www.g2mil.com/border.htm
The only reason the troops are going is to protect the illegals; the only thing that will stop the invasion is for the invader to be afraid he might lose his liberty or his life. Therefore no citizen or police officer or border patrol agent can be allowed to interfere with the invader. The troops are there to enforce this policy.
FORGET THE FEDS! Texas: Call-up the Texas Rangers. New Mexico: Get retired law enforcement personnel to patrol the little bit of border between Texas and Arizona. Arizona: Assign Sheriff Joe to recruit retired Marines, Special Forces, & Navy Seals to Walk-the-Walk for those politicians who can only Talk-the-Talk. California: Hell, just recruit the Hell’s Angels – they’d probably do it for the fun of it. Or, allow BP to run an oil pipline the length of the border…the resulting oil spill will stop illegal immigration in its tracks! Literally…it is quite difficult to walk through a tar barrier. Seriously, though, I cannot fault the average Mexican who tries to escape an economic abyss created by the aristocrats who rule the country for coming to the U.S. In Mexican Town, i.e. the part of Detroit with really great Mexican restaurants, tortilla factories, shops, etc., you will find some of the hardest and friendliest workers anywhere. I do not want to see amnesty. I’d like to see a better procedure for enabling the hard workers in and screening out the criminal ones.
That g2mil.com article is interesting. I have only one minor problem with the author’s strategy: Mexico contains millions of indigenas who have somehow managed to avoid learning Spanish in nearly five centuries under a Spanish-speaking government. Increasing numbers of them are condescending to bestow their vibrant diversity upon us. That soldier with the bullhorn will need to learn his commands in Nahuatl, Mixtec, and a whole list of languages other than Spanish and French (French?).
Alternatively, the author might consider that the M16 rifle and M4 carbine speak a universal language. If the government is not prepared to use deadly force against illegal border crossers who ignore its commands, then patrolling the border is a waste of time and money. To my knowledge, no invasion has ever been stopped without deadly force, but I humbly ask anyone who knows of such an instance to enlighten me.
Another “In addition”: I just heard on the radio that, as directed from Mexico City, The national guard will be involved only in control of smuggling guns and drugs. They are not to be involved with guarding the border against illegal immigration.