Senators Urge President to Sustain National Guard Presence On Southern Border Government

Lawmakers Want Operation Jump Start Fully Maintained WASHINGTON Senators Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) on July 27, 2007, expressed growing concern over administration plans to reduce the number of National Guardsmen deployed to the Southwest border to support Customs and Border Protection (CBP) efforts. In a letter to President Bush, also signed by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the lawmakers asked the administration to continue the Operation Jump Start initiative and maintain or increase the levels of National Guard personnel helping CBP conduct border security activities including surveillance and vehicle barrier construction. The American people clearly expect the federal government to secure our borders, both to preserve our sovereignty and to prevent the entry of terrorists, criminals, and illegal aliens into the United States. While we realize current efforts in Iraq require large numbers of U.S. personnel, Americans could rightly question why the Administration has dedicated 160,000 National Guardsmen to maintain order and security in Iraq, while limiting to 6,000 (or fewer) the number of Guardsmen to perform similar tasks on our own southern border, which most agree is in a state of crisis, the Senators wrote. In 2006, the Department of Homeland Security rolled out Operation Jump Start to deploy 6,000 Guardsmen along the entire Southwest border to support CPB, which has been increasingly stretched thin by the inflow of illegal immigrants. Pointing to program successes as well as the enduring need for heightened border security, the Senators stated, For these reasons, we strongly believe that Operation Jump Start Should continue with the same number of National Guard personnel, or more, as have been deployed over the past 12 months to the extent our National Guard can support such deployments. Since the start of Operation Jump Start, apprehensions along the Southwest border have dropped by 25 percent. Participating Guardsmen have also gained valuable hands-on training including vehicle/fleet maintenance, IT support, aviation support, intelligence support, surveillance and reconnaissance support, and intelligence analysis. We appreciate your leadership on border and immigration issues, and urge you to continue that leadership by continuing Operation Jump Start with more National Guard personnel along the U.S.-Mexico border at least until CBP gains operational control of that border, the Senators wrote President Bush. An amendment cosponsored by Domenici and Kyl that was offered to the Senate-passed Homeland Security Appropriations Bill would have authorized additional funds to maintain Operation Jump Start. The Operation Jump Start provision was procedurally blocked and the amendment passed without the program funding. Kyl and Domenici also cosponsored an amendment to the FY2008 Defense Authorization Bill to authorize $400 million for the continuance of the program, but the measure was not considered before Democratic leadership withdrew the bill.