Guard volunteers report for border duty
The Washington National Guard is sending 300 members south to patrol the Arizona-Mexico border for 30 days.
The soldiers and airmen arrived Monday at Camp Murray outside Tacoma. Thursday, the group called Task Force Cascade will be deployed to Yuma, Ariz.
This is the second wave of Washington Guard members to be deployed to Arizona but the first to actually patrol for people illegally crossing the border as part of President Bush’s initiative to support the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol until it can hire and train more agents.
Sixteen members of Spokane Washington Air National Guard medical and engineering units were deployed earlier this month to build a field hospital but have returned. At the same time, another group of 17 was deployed from the West Side of the state to set up a radio communications network. They’re still in Arizona.
The Washington Guard members being deployed this week will be armed but are instructed not to apprehend anyone, said Washington Guard public information officer Maj. Philip Osterli. Instead, they will report any illegal crossings to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency.
Once in Arizona, they will train with the Border Patrol before starting their surveillance mission.
“It’s not a safe place,” said Osterli of the border area. “They will have weapons for self-defense, but they have strict rules to follow.”
Osterli said he could not elaborate on those rules.
He said he didn’t know how many of the 300 are from the Spokane area, but said that the group is from across the state.
Those not monitoring the border will offer support services such as communications, medical and maintenance work.
Osterli said other Washington Guard members may be asked to serve on 90-day or one-year deployments.
Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire said in May that she would not force guardsmen to serve on the border but would not prohibit volunteers from doing so.
“I am proud of the men and women of the Washington National Guard who have volunteered to serve their country at the border,” Gregoire said Monday. “This is a stopgap measure. As many experts have said, we must have a well-trained and fully staffed border patrol in order to secure our border.”
Deploying Washington Guardsmen to Arizona won’t compromise their ability to perform other tasks such as serving overseas in Iraq or performing homeland security or disaster-relief duties in Washington, said Osterli.
Gregoire has said that she may call up as many as 500 of Washington’s roughly 8,500 guards-men to fight wildfires. Another 500 are deployed overseas. That compares with 4,400 Washington guardsmen deployed overseas in 2004 and 2005, said Osterli.