Why isn't the National Guard guarding our border?
344246
Great question!!!\n\nMajority of them are in IRAQ thanks to you and me and our wonderful fear against the unknown terrorists.  Most in the guard are your regular Joes and Janes, teachers and firemen, we need them home with their families and friends!
764972
Build a wall 100 feet high and three feet thick out of concrete and steel reinforced cinder-block w/ a 30 foot deep footing and a string of razor wire at the top along every inch of us/mexico and us/canada border...also up the border patrol as to securely guard the wall...the only way through the border would then be either through the gates or around the wall by means of the sea...I would suggest satellites to monitor the entries of illegals by seaway in conjunction w. coast guard patrols to enforce breeches in security monitored by satellite imagery..a little extreme as it were....and although I don't necessarily condone this action... it would be extremely effective as you could imagine.....
1129696
I don't know and for one I am really disappointed and angry that he is not pushing harder to secure our borders. I do understand though that he cannot just unilaterally make a decision without the support of congress and the house but really what is wrong with all of them? Why don't they all seek to protect only those that can vote for them?
546501
A million people a year attempting to cross the border. National guard going to have tough time capturing them all.
609844
wait by the border or join one of the troops in the National Guards that Bush is sending to protect it.
862941
The 'immigrant wall'?\n\nThey are talking about a two to three layer fence in urban areas to make it less easy to dash across in groups and scatter through yards.  In other areas where the concern is more the drug runner sort, it will be vehicle barriers.  In other areas there will be cameras, sensors and unmanned drone aircraft feeding information to border patrol.\n\nFrankly, this last should also cut down on people dying in the desert, though I certainly wouldn't want to count on it.
358381
Why dont' they SECURE OUR BORDERS let the ones that already here stay here AND THEN worry about people that are racist and burning mexicans and other countries flags..
324971
Mexico Does NOT "GUARD" Its NORTHERN Borders\n\nThey ESCORT Their People(DRUG SMUGGLERS, ETC.) TO The Border And ASSIST Them \nTo Gain ILLEGAL ENTRY INTO The United States
1039736
About what?  Important detail left out.   The Border Patrol is overseen by Homeland Security, not INS.
1052595
Makes NO sense does it??!! The mexican border is one of the most DANGEROUS places around, what with drug smugglers sneaking across!!! There has been OVER two hundred incursions into the U.S.,by the mexican army,just THIS year!!! THEN,you have all the murderers,rapists,child molesters, and gang members SNEAKING across!!! The border patrol gets shot at all the time!! It is SUICIDE to not have weapons to defend yourself, when you are stationed on the border!!!!
1138159
Because the National Guard was set up to get around Posse Comitatus by being fully funded by the state they are there to protect. They may get federal money from grants and such, but the grant money goes to the state, not the military unit. Then the STATE itself funds the units needs. As a military unit fully funded by the state, and for the state, is is lawful for the Governor of the state to order them into civilian action, not as an Army unit, but as a deputized law enforcement unit under the control of the Governor's office. Or whatever other reason he needs them. (For example, he/she can order medical personel into the field and set up medical facilities for civilians.) FEDERAL troops, such as a Marine detachment, or a Regular Army (or RA) detachment could not participate in these same actions except as in a supporting role only, as is the case with the federal troops supporting the local and federal law enforcement agencies along the Mexican border. They have no arrest authority, but use sophisticated techniques and sheer manpower to support those who do.
864556
Why not just enforce our borders and immigration laws? That would prevent them from returning.
124805
Absolutely. In fact, we need the military, walls, mine fields, razor wire, concertina wire, heat sensors, motion sensors, seismic sensors, gates, dogs, and Lord knows what else on our borders.\n\nIt seems kind of foolish to me to spend billions of dollars securing the airports when any would-be terrorist can simply walk across the border from either Canada or Mexico, and no one would know about it.
387476
Yes We DO Need A Fence.......\n\nWith The NATIONAL GUARD At The State Level\nPatrolling That Fence \nWith AUTHORIZATION To Use Deadly Force \nAgainst ANYONE Trying To Gain Illegal Entry To This Country\n\nOnce A Few Of Em Take The HEADSHOT, The Rest Will Stop Trying To Come
1163838
The borders are actually very secure.  The real problem there is smugglers, whether of drugs, other goods, or people.  They are very creative, and always have been.  Here in the northwest corner of Washington we are fortunate in that all the border agencies, the DEA, local police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have an unheard-of level of cooperation.\n\nFor instance, Canadian authorities were watching certain suspicious characters and learned that they were digging a tunnel under the border (a short distance from a border crossing!) and placed a simple phone call to our side.  They were allowed to complete the tunnel; we bugged it with electronic devices, and once the DEA had identifed the smugglers' contacts, swooped down and arrested them all.  In another incident, Border Patrol cameras spotted three men exiting a van and walking across the border.  They called the RCMP and the Mounties caught the three men, who were carrying diamonds, $100,000 cash and some 41 handguns.  We picked up the van and its driver.\n\nAnd the one terrorist who tried the border here thought a sleepy ferry crossing was just the ticket.  He fooled nobody and was arrested after a short chase.  (This was that Ressam character.)  He is still in prison.\n\nBefore 9/11 the United States had been working toward borders that were open to most of the world.  We were even letting people from certain countries like the U.K. come in with basic identification, not even visas.  And of course the borders with Canada and Mexico had been unpatrolled by the military for decades (bases on the border were from older eras, particularly those on the Canadian border).  In the Northeast there are many communities which straddle the border and people think nothing of going from one side to the other.  Customs officials are not too concerned about small purchases by ordinary people, and NAFTA was sweeping away a lot of customs duties among the U.S., Canada and Mexico.\n\nThe only real difficulty with open borders here is the immigration problem with Mexico.  The root of the problem is poverty and it is a regional problem (Mexico faces the same immigration difficulties on her southern border), requiring a regional solution.  However, the Republican Party is traditionally loath to tackle poverty directly - they really are the party of the arrogant rich - and the Democrats rarely have workable solutions (the Marshall Plan is a major exception, and please note that George C. Marshall was not really a  politician).\n\nAs for legal immigrants, I think they deserve some breaks, especially since a new amnesty program for illegals has been mooted.\n\nI haven't said much about terrorists here.  That is because they aren't exploiting the open borders.  The borders may be open, but they are watched and guarded.  No, terrorists are exploiting what isn't carefully watched, and that is "the rules."  Every single one of the 9/11 terrorists, and the previous attackers of the World Trade Center too, had a vaild passport.  All had obtained visas or green cards: where they got away with it was in avoiding the follow-up procedures.  They, and half of all illegal immigrants besides, simply overstayed their visas and ignored the reporting requirements (I remember the government used to pay for TV messages advising aliens that they had to send in their address information every January 1).  And they were allowed to get away with it!  On the border, the government is doing its job.  Once inside the border, the government isn't.\n\nMost of the border security measures being proposed will have the effect of closing the open borders and stifling both trade and tourism, especially casual visits that generate a heck of a lot of money on both sides of either border.  They will not have any effect on terrorists and little on smugglers and illegal immigrants.  Increased vigilance helps, and improving cargo inspection methods will help too.  But we need to be addressing th
583949
The us border patrol\nWhich is vastly undermanned\nTheyre under federal control\nThe National Guard is going to be helping soon according to last nights speech.
618067
Where are they going to find the National Guardsmen to do this?  Most Guardsmen are at the maximum time they can be involuntarily called to active duty.\n\nAnother thing to remember is that we are soldiers - not border patrol.