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May 22, 2006

Defining the Guard's Role at Our Borders

During debate on the immigration bill, the Senate considered a proposal to define the National Guard's mission along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Senate will soon vote on an amendment to authorize the use of the National Guard along the Southwest border of the United States. Last week, in hearings before the Appropriations Committee and the Armed Services Committee, I asked senior Administration officials from the Department of Defense, the Border Patrol, the National Guard Bureau, and other military leaders about my concerns that this mission would detract from the ability of the National Guard to respond to emergencies in their home states.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Chief of the National Guard Bureau General Steven Blum, and other witnesses gave their assurances that this plan to deploy troops to the border would not create a new, strenuous deployment of the Guard, it would not leave our states in a bind should a disaster strike while troops were deployment, and it would allow governors to make the final call as to whether National Guard units from their states should be used in support of the Border Patrol. Those witnesses also testified that National Guard units would only be used in missions and roles for which the troops are already trained.

I expect the Administration to hold firm to these assurances, and the amendment before the Senate would help to limit the scope of the missions for which the Guard may be deployed.

While I still have questions about how the National Guard will carry out the missions that are assigned to it, we must not overlook the fact that the Administration has missed many opportunities to tighten controls at our borders without depending on our citizen-soldiers to do the job. Since September 11, I have offered nine amendments to provide more funds to hire more Border Patrol agents, strengthen security at our borders, and stop the flow of illegal immigrants and contraband into our country. The Administration opposed each one of my amendments, labeling them to be “extraneous,” “unnecessary” spending that would “expand the size of government.” If my amendments had been approved and supported by the Administration, there would be thousands more Border Patrol agents on the job today.

Real homeland security cannot be found in a patchwork of quick fixes. Sending troops to the border is at best a band-aid solution to a serious problem. I will support this amendment, but I will also continue my efforts to provide the funds that are needed to provide lasting improvements to our border security.

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