WASHINGTON, July 14 (UPI) -- About 40 percent of the 6,000 National Guardsmen assigned to border duty will be armed for self-protection, an Army general said Friday.
"We will arm those that are in mission profiles that put soldiers in harm's way. They will carry side arms. They will carry ammunition, and they do have the right to self-protect. And there are other rules that are in there that keep them from abusing any authority over use of lethal force," said Lt .Gen. Steven Blum, the commander of the National Guard. "We are not defending our border and we're not invading Mexico. So all we're doing is protecting our soldiers, so we'll arm them for that particular purpose."
More than a third of the 6,000 troops - about 2,500 -- will be conducting reconnaissance at the border as "Entry Identification Team" members.
"They basically observe illegals or people coming across the border day and night with night-vision goggles and binoculars and (Global Positioning Systems), and they radio that information to the Border Patrol so the Border Patrol can intersect or intercept those people, determine whether it's criminal or it's legitimate, and then take the law enforcement action necessary," Blum said.
They will not be involved in interdicting illegal aliens.
"We're not going to go out and interrogate illegals. We are not going to arrest illegals. The National Guard will not even handle or be in custody of illegal immigrants at any time," he said at a Pentagon press conference Friday. "We are not replacing the Border Patrol. We are not doing law enforcement."
The Guard was tapped this spring to increase the intelligence analysis, communications and mobility of border patrol agents while the federal government hires and trains more of them. The operation will cost about $770 million, money that was taken out of the 2006 war supplemental.
