Sealing the border

President Bush will be making a televised speech this evening (setting back the season finale of Prison Break about 20 minutes, which will not help his poll numbers) announcing that National Guardsmen will be stationed on the US-Mexico border to curb illegal immigration:

President Bush tried to ease the worries of his Mexican counterpart yesterday as he prepared for a nationally televised address tonight unveiling a plan to send thousands of National Guard troops to help seal the nation's southern border against illegal immigrants.

Mexican President Vicente Fox called to express concern over the prospect of militarization of the border, and Bush reassured him that it would be only a temporary measure to bolster overwhelmed Border Patrol agents, the White House said.

[...]

The White House formally insisted that no decision has been made and that Bush was still considering options yesterday. But aides left little doubt that the president intends to call for an expanded Guard deployment at the border involving several thousand troops, a significant increase from the 200 or so now there.

Officials suggested their mission would be to play a supporting role by providing intelligence, training, transportation, construction and other functions, while leaving the actual guarding of the 2,000-mile line separating the United States and Mexico to the Border Patrol. The National Guard would be a stopgap force until the federal government could hire civilian contractors to take over administrative and support functions from the Border Patrol, freeing more agents to actually hunt for immigrants slipping into the country.

The situation on America's southern border is dangerous and unsustainable, so there's a lot to be said for sending troops down there. Which begs the question as to why Bush is only getting around to it now, halfway through his second term in office. Hey, you don't think a 29% approval rating with midterm elections coming up could have something to do with it, do you?

Damian P.

Posted by damian at May 15, 2006 07:43 AM