Why are we withdrawing needed support from our porous southern border?

Members of Congress are split on whether the National Guard should end its deployment along the U.S.-Mexico border in July, as planned.

On Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff predicted the border would not be secured until 2011.

* * *

The final withdrawal for the National Guard working in Operation Jump Start is planned for July 15.

The National Guard's Noller said that Operation Jump Start is winding down because of a presidential directive. As in all military operations, he said, about 150 guardsmen will remain for administrative duties after the mission ends.

As of June 11, 2,284 Guard members were on active duty at the border.

Git that? The border will be unsecured for three more years -- but we are pulling a couple of thousand bodies away from the task of securing it.

This is one of those things that leaves so many of us so pissed off at the Bush Administration -- its utter fecklessness when it comes to immigration and border policy. Even when the Administration has conceded a need to do more, it does so in such a half-hearted way as to be utterly useless.

And the notion that the Guard should remain deployed has bipartisan support.

Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Stephen Lynch recommended keeping the troops along the border for another year or so.

"We can get a long way between now and 2011," Lynch said. "Make an assessment in 2009 or 2010 and see where we are, and if we can afford to move them off our border, then we can do that."

Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) was also in favor of waiting.

"My advice would be to favor their continued deployment until the border's judged as secure," he said.

Mr. Bush -- don't undercut the enforcement efforts along our nation's southern border.

Posted by: Greg at 11:50 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 319 words, total size 2 kb.