It doesn't help that National Guard is pulling out - next month!
A retreat from the border (little known news about America's hopeless situation)
August 6, 2007 - 8:32am.
National Guard pulls back
By LISA HOFFMAN
It's occurring largely under the nation's radar screen, but the National Guard is well on the way to pulling thousands of its troops back from the border with Mexico, even though there are not enough civilian officers to replace them.
At its height, Operation Jump Start -- as the effort was named when it began in June 2006 -- deployed about 6,000 citizen-soldiers from around the country to New Mexico, Arizona, Texas and California to bolster the border against illegal immigrants and drug smugglers attempting to enter.
By Sept. 1, 3,000 of the 6,000 guards will be gone. The rest will leave the border next July. The guard deployment was intended to fill in the gap while the U.S. Border Patrol hired and trained 6,000 new officers. So far, only about 2,000 are ready for duty.
Guard leaders say the assignment has been a success, with its troops aiding in the apprehension of 85,000 aliens, the seizure of 201,000 pounds of marijuana and the repair of 428 miles of roads. On the down side, three guardsmen in Texas have been charged with conspiring to smuggle more than 100 illegal immigrants across the border they were supposed to be monitoring.
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