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 Editorials | Opinions | April 2008 
Keep Guard on Border a While Longer but Pursue Real Reform
 Mercury News
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Dispatching the National Guard to the Mexican border is no substitute for a permanent Border Patrol. And a larger Border Patrol is no substitute for a comprehensive immigration policy that includes a temporary visa program for farm workers.
But President Bush's short-term fix, sending in the National Guard, has helped cut down on illegal crossings. That's why Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the governors of Arizona and New Mexico repeated their call last week for extending the Guard's duties past the June 1 end of the program. Congress should fund it another year.
Bush announced the 6,000-troop deployment in 2006 as a stopgap while boosting the size of the Border Patrol from 12,000 to 18,000. Critics worried about militarizing the border. But the National Guard has not been intercepting border crossers.
It has provided technical help for the Border Patrol, and its presence has been a deterrent. Apprehensions have dropped by two-thirds, even though the administration began scaling back the number of Guard members last fall. About 600 California National Guard members now work along the state's border.
Homeland Security promised to hire 6,000 new agents by June, but it has deployed only half that number.
In opposing immigration reforms, congressional Republicans argued that securing the border must come first. So keep the Guard there for another six months to a year, and renew the discussions on true reform. |
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