Will 278th be part of National Guard border patrol?

Will 278th be part of National Guard border patrol?

May 15, 2006

By ERICA ESTEP
6 News Reporter

KNOXVILLE (WATE) -- As President Bush proposes deploying National Guard troops to patrol the Mexican border, Tennesseans wonder if the 278th will be part of the plan.

The president's plan is drawing criticism, even from some key Republicans.

At the National Guard armory, 6 News spoke with several soldiers Monday who didn't want to appear on camera, but said protecting U.S. borders is a job they wouldn't mind.

"I think it's a good thing. I really do," says Sgt. Donald Rines. "If the National Guard rolls in, that would help them be able to go up in the mountains and catch the ones crossing the borders up in the mountains and bringing in the helicopters, if we would use them to patrol."

It's also a deployment that would keep Rines closer to home and safer than heading to a war zone. "Just patrolling the borders would be just deterring people and over there, we're actually having to roll in and fight, IEDs, stuff like that."

Rines' wife, Amy, agrees that the National Guard should be involved in protecting U.S. borders. "I think it would help. I think it would help to get them down there to patrol because the border patrol is stretched thin. We don't have enough down there."

And what about the troops being spread too thin? "Right now, being that we're pulling two different theatres right now, the national guard is, we might be a little thin but I think that we could pull it together and get the job done if the president wants it that way," Rines says.

6 News contacted Rep. Zach Wamp (R-3rd Dist.) Monday about his stance on the border patrols.

Wamp issued a statement saying, "Last week I voted for an amendment to the Defense Authorization bill for fiscal year 2007 that would permit the secretary of defense to use military forces to assist the border patrol in regaining control of our Southern border and I have long been a cosponsor of H.R. 1986, stand-alone legislation that would accomplish the same goal. We must reform our immigration laws, but we must first enforce the laws we have in place to secure our borders. The security of our homeland depends upon it, our system of law and order requires it and the lawless environment on the southern border demands it."

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) also applauds the White House plans, saying, "Upholding the rule of law on our border is as important as defending our freedom in Iraq."

There are currently 14,000 National Guard troops in Tennessee. Of those, 800 are currently deployed.

A National Guard spokesperson says it isn't likely that any troops from Tennessee will protecting our borders.