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 News from Around the Americas | June 2006 
Other States Should Step Up on Border Plan: Calif
 Reuters
| | California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger shakes hands with California National Guard members during a tour of the U.S./Mexico border area near the San Ysidro Port of Entry in San Diego on Wednesday, June 21, 2006. Schwarzenegger toured the area from a helicopter and held a news conference along the border fence. (AP/Denis Poroy) |
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office said on Saturday the White House should get other states to buy into its policy of using National Guard troops to police the Mexican border, saying California had done its share.
Schwarzenegger, a Republican who last month reluctantly agreed to send 1,000 members of the California National Guard to help with operations along the porous border, this week turned down a White House request to send an additional 1,500 troops out of state.
"Because of potential disasters here in California and wanting to ensure we are prepared, the governor would not send (more) troops out of state," a Schwarzenegger aide said.
"Other states need to send troops, and the White House needs to get more governors to buy into its proposal," said the aide who asked not to be identified.
The additional troops requested from California would have been sent to Arizona and New Mexico to meet a shortfall there, officials said. Some 300 Arizona National Guard members are expected to take up their duties along the state's border with Mexico this weekend.
Schwarzenegger's refusal underlined divisions in the Republican Party over illegal immigration and U.S. President George W. Bush's plan to station up to 6,000 National Guard troops along the 2,000-mile (3,200-km) border with Mexico to curb the number of illegal crossings.
The former movie star, who came to the United States from Austria and whose state is one of the most affected by illegal immigration, has called Bush's approach a "Band-Aid solution."
On Wednesday, he took the U.S. Congress to task, saying politicians were completely irresponsible for again failing to pass legislation that would address the problem.
Schwarzenegger Denies Bush Troop Request
Aaron C. Davis - Associated Press
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger this week rejected a request from the Bush administration to send an additional 1,500 National Guard troops to the Mexican border, the governor's office confirmed Friday.
The National Guard Bureau, an arm of the Pentagon, asked for the troops to help with the border-patrol mission in New Mexico and Arizona, but Schwarzenegger said the request would stretch the California Guard too thin in case of an emergency or natural disaster.
Schwarzenegger spokesman Adam Mendelsohn confirmed the governor's decision Friday after two California National Guard officials revealed it to The Associated Press.
Mendelsohn said the governor believed sending more troops would create an inappropriate burden on the state and disrupt the guard's training schedule.
The overall deployment for the border mission will remain at 6,000 soldiers.
On June 1, Schwarzenegger agreed to send the California National Guard to the Mexican border to help the federal government's effort to curb illegal immigration. That ended a 17-day standoff with the Bush administration over whether the state would join the border patrol effort and who would pay for it.
California has committed to putting 1,000 troops on the border by July 31 and has 250 there already.
Schwarzenegger initially criticized the administration's plan to deploy troops to the border, saying it was the wrong approach to dealing with illegal immigration.
The governor finally relented after the Pentagon signed a document promising to pay for the entire mission, a cost that could top $1.4 billion nationally.
Schwarzenegger also wanted the Bush administration to commit to a firm end date. It did not, but Schwarzenegger signed an executive order saying he would not authorize the deployment beyond the end of 2008.
Associated Press Writer Scott Lindlaw contributed to this report from Soda Springs, Calif. |
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