Obama to send troops to U.S.-Mexico border

The White House will send up to 1,200 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border and will ask Congress for $500 million to boost border security, officials said Tuesday.

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Arizona Democrat, who along with other Arizona lawmakers had made the request, announced the move on her Web site. White House officials confirmed the plan.

“The president is committed to a strategic approach, consisting of a requirements-based, temporary utilization of up to 1,200 additional National Guard troops to bridge longer-term enhancements in border protections and law enforcement personnel,” said National Security Advisor James L. Jones and Mr. Obama’s homeland security advisor, John O. Brennan, in a letter to Congress.

Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl, Arizona Republicans, last month asked Mr. Obama to make this move.

It comes less than a month after Arizona enacted a new law requiring police to check the legal status of those they encounter during their duties who they have reasonable suspicion to believe are in the country illegally. Last Friday, a top federal immigration official warned that the federal government may not actually collect and deport those caught under the new law.

Mrs. Giffords said the president’s decision “is a clear sign that this administration is beginning to take border security seriously.”

The announcement comes on the same day Mr. Obama met with Senate Republicans to beg them to work with him on a broader immigration bill that would legalize illegal immigrants already here, giving them a path to citizenship.

It’s unclear if the president mentioned this part of his plan to Republicans, though senators said they spent a good amount of time pushing Mr. Obama to do more on border security.

“How do you get 60 votes for a pathway to citizenship when the whole country is focused on broken borders?” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, who had been working on a broad immigration bill but broke those talks off last month.

The White House said the added troops will “complement the strong security partnership with Mexico” —though the Mexican government has in the past been critical of U.S. efforts to place troops there.

Mr. McCain and Mr. Kyl had called for 6,000 guard troops to be deployed, including 3,000 just in Arizona, and said Mr. Obama’s deployment undershoots the need.

“It’s simply not enough,” Mr. McCain said.

In their letter to Congress, Mr. Obama’s advisors said there is no precedent for Congress directing the president to deploy Guard troops like that, and said such an extensive deployment could hurt the National Guard as it participates in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It’s unclear what the mission will be for the Guard.

In 2006 President George W. Bush deployed Guard troops to the border to help build infrastructure and back up the U.S. Border Patrol, which was in the process of staffing up.

But they were so restricted in 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.