Sat, Jul 04, 2009

Tucson Region

Ky. guardsmen arrive on border

Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 07.12.2006
More than 200 Kentucky National Guard troops arrived to Arizona this week as part of the president's plan to deliver the U.S. Border Patrol immediate help.
With the arrival of the Kentucky troops, there are now about 750 National Guard troops in the Border Patrol's Tucson and Yuma sectors as part of President Bush's Operation Jumpstart, said Maj. Paul Aguirre of the Arizona National Guard.
Nationally, about 2,800 Guard troops have been deployed, still short of the 6,000 the President pledged to send in his May 15 address.
The Kentucky troops will build roads, fences and temporary vehicle barriers throughout the Tucson and Yuma sectors, officials said. That will free up Border Patrol agents to do more patrol work, said Tucson Sector spokesman Gustavo Soto.
In addition to the 200 from Kentucky, 150 are from New York and 400 are from Arizona, 100 of whom are helping out with the mission while at a two-week training at Fort Huachuca, Aguirre said.
The Kentucky troops are scheduled to stay for about three weeks, said Fay Ludens, spokesman for the National Guard. They will be on the border by the end of the week, Soto said. Eighty troops from Wisconsin are expected to arrive next week, said Maj. Paul Ellis of the Arizona National Guard.
Wisconsin is the 14th state to send troops as part of President Bush's initiative to bolster the Border Patrol in New Mexico, Arizona, Texas and California.
About 2,800 guardsmen have been deployed to the Southwest, and approximately 900 are performing their assigned duties, said Lt. Col. Mike Milord, a spokesman at National Guard headquarters in Arlington, Va. The rest are in various stages of training and preparation, he said.
● The Associated Press contributed to this report. — Brady McCombs