Past Guard border deployments offer clues
The U.S. National Guard faces a vastly different environment than it did on its last two deployments to the border with Mexico, with far fewer illegal crossings and more Central Americans than Mexicans coming.
Still, its role is shaping up much the same: moving more Border Patrol agents from behind-thescenes jobs to the front lines.
President Donald Trump told reporters Thursday that he wants to send between 2,000 and 4,000 National Guard members to the U.s.-mexico border to help federal officials fight illegal immigration and drug trafficking. That estimate is lower than the 6,400 Guard members that former President George Bush sent to the border.
From 2006 to 2008, the Guard fixed vehicles, maintained roads, repaired fences and performed ground surveillance. Its second mission in 2010 and 2011 involved more aerial surveillance and intelligence work. People involved in both operations say the Guard was the Border Patrol’s “eyes and ears.”
Federal law limits military involvement in civilian law enforcement, creating a supporting role for the Guard. The Trump administration and governors haven’t said precisely what the troops will do but Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen anticipates vehicle maintenance and aerial surveillance will be in the mix.
Operation Jump Start, from May 2006 to July 2008, sent 6,000 troops to the border in its first year and 3,000 the second year and was framed as a way to buy time amid an unprecedented Border Patrol hiring spree and heavy political pressure for immediate action. The Border Patrol ballooned by thousands of agents during the operation to about 20,000, roughly where it is today.
About 40 per cent of troops went to Arizona, the busiest corridor for illegal crossings at the time, followed in order by Texas, California and New Mexico. The Border Patrol made about 1.1 million arrests the year Jump Start began, nearly four times what it did last year.
The Guard was assigned to observation posts some distance from the border for safety reasons, using binoculars and other gear to spot people crossing.
Richard Barlow, then a top Border Patrol official in San Diego, said their success as lookouts varied because they were unarmed and needed protection in more dangerous areas.
“They aren’t allowed to have contact (with people arrested), so they’re basically eyes,” Barlow said.