Guardsmen at border called ‘colossal waste’
Border Patrol union leader has ‘seen no benefit’
McALLEN, Texas — A month after President Donald Trump called for sending National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, the head of the national Border Patrol union called the deployment “a colossal waste of resources.”
“We have seen no benefit,” said Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, the union that represents 15,000 agents.
The criticism is a dramatic departure for the group, which endorsed Trump’s candidacy for president and has praised his border security efforts, including National Guard deployments.
“When I found out the National Guard was going to be on the border I was extremely excited,” Judd said, because previous deployments on the border helped alleviate the Border Patrol’s workload.
But this time, he said, “that has not happened at all.”
About 1,600 National Guard troops were deployed on the border. About 750 more troops may soon be added in support roles, and the total could reach 4,000 “based on requests for assistance and what they need,” said Army Lt. Col. Jamie Davis, a Pentagon spokesman.
“We want to match the right number of troops to do the jobs that are needed, not just provide a certain number of troops,” Davis said.
Davis declined to comment on the remarks by the Border Patrol union.
A Border Patrol spokeswoman said National Guard troops had assisted with 3,100 deportations, a thousand “turn backs” of migrants into Mexico and the seizure of 3,500 pounds of marijuana — all by operating support technology and equipment. She said they had replaced some Border Patrol agents at observation posts. “Instead of an agent watching a camera, they can,” she said.
Border Patrol and National Guard officials from Arizona and Texas held a briefing several weeks into the deployment to praise it as a “force multiplier,” although they did not say how many agents the deployment had freed to patrol the border.
They noted that troops stationed at observation posts on the border in Texas were part of a separate operation, that those sent by the National Guard were not allowed to observe anything inside Mexico, even remotely via surveillance equipment, because that’s considered spying.
Border Patrol Acting Chief Carla Provost responded to the union’s claims by acknowledging that the National Guard’s role has changed compared with past deployments. Although they have been deployed to the border, they have to be paired with an agent who has law enforcement powers, and Border Patrol and defense officials decided it was better to use them behind the scenes for surveillance and air support.
A Pentagon official, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the topic, noted that governors in the four border states where National Guard troops were deployed — Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas — set the terms of engagement.
He added: “The National Guard is always cost-effective.”
Border Patrol union members disagreed.
The last time the National Guard was deployed to the border — in Texas in 2014 and borderwide in 2010 — troops assumed Border Patrol posts on the front lines, easing the workload, Judd said.
Although National Guard members were restricted to an “observe and report” role and couldn’t detain migrants, “they were allowed to do a lot more than they are under the Trump administration. They were allowed to be in lookout and observation posts. They were allowed to be out grading the roads and mending fences. They were allowed to be our eyes and ears, freeing us up,” Judd said.
This deployment, he said, has proved to be far more limited — despite the administration’s claims.
Some lawmakers have also criticized the deployment.
“The National Guard deployment is a waste of finite resources, and is duplicative of existing border security efforts,” said Texas Rep. Mary Gonzalez, who represents a district outside El Paso.
The National Guard deployment is expected to cost the federal government $220 million to $252 million through the end of the year, according to Christopher Sherwood, a Department of Defense spokesman.
That price tag will likely swell. When Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush deployed the National Guard to the border, it ultimately cost an estimated $1.35 billion.