Arkansas to Deploy 150 National Guard to the Mexico Border

About 150 members of the Arkansas National Guard will head to the U.S-Mexico border as part of President Bush's plan to send 6,000 National Guardsman to the border by the end of August. I am grateful that Arkansas is willing to do its part to secure our borders and I feel confident these men and women will do a fantastic job at improving our homeland security.

So far the President has deployed less than half of the 2,500 National Guardsmen it planned to have on the Mexican border by the end of June. As of yesterday, military officials reported there were fewer than 1,000 troops in place. Part of the President's problem is that only 10 states have signed committments to send their guardsmen to help with border security efforts.

While it is critical we do something immediately to solve this problem, securing our border is more complicated than sending 6,000 National Guardsmen to assist federal efforts. We need a serious investment in Border Patrol agents, Immigration Enforcement officers, and new surveillance technologies. Most importantly, we need a strong and effective Department of Homeland Security to enforce our border security policies.