Text size:

6,000 troops on the lines

Bush wants to send Guard to the Mexican border, but urges 'a nation of immigrants' to back plan of citizenship for some illegal workers

BY CRAIG GORDON | Newsday Washington Bureau

May 16, 2006

WASHINGTON - Mixing a show of muscle with an outstretched hand, President George W. Bush is sending up to 6,000 National Guard troops to the Mexican border while endorsing a plan to give illegal workers already here a shot at citizenship.

Bush hopes the dramatic boots-on-the-ground bid will salvage an election-year immigration overhaul by winning over his party's anti-immigration hawks.

"We do not yet have full control of the border, and I am determined to change that," Bush said in a prime-time address last night, outlining a plan to send the part-time troops while training 6,000 new Border Patrol agents.

Bush balanced that effort with a call to allow the 12 million immigrants who came here illegally to work toward legal status - something many conservatives consider little more than a get-out-of-jail-free type of amnesty.

Bush rejected that term last night, calling on those Republicans to recognize that it's unrealistic to expect so many immigrants simply to be rounded up and shipped home.

"There is a rational middle ground between granting an automatic path to citizenship for every illegal immigrant and a program of mass deportation," Bush said.

But in the immigration debate, middle ground has been in short supply, with massive pro-immigration let-us-stay rallies on one side and sharp go-home rhetoric on the other.

And as of last night, there were signs that hard-line Republicans weren't moved by Bush's National Guard plan, saying they need proof of tougher border security before considering other steps to legalize immigration, even if that takes years.

"I have real concerns about moving forward with a guest worker program ... until we have adequately addressed our serious border security problems," said House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.).

Bush hoped to use the national address to push recalcitrant lawmakers together as the Senate resumed its immigration debate - and to score a badly needed legislative victory to reverse sagging approval ratings.

But the two houses are far apart, and even Republicans aren't listening to a weakened Bush as intently these days as they face elections this fall.

House Republicans are pushing an enforcement-only bill and the Senate is working on a compromise bill that contains most of what Bush wants.

Under Bush's National Guard plan, troops would be pulled out of states across the country to be dispatched to the border for two to three weeks at a time as part of their once-a-year service requirement.

But that would mean a massive rotation through the course of the year, with as many as 156,000 individual soldiers pulling border duty in the first year, the White House said. That's roughly one out of every three National Guard members. In the second year, 3,000 troops would go, before the program ends and new Border Patrol agents take up posts.

The National Guard troops wouldn't be involved in chasing down, apprehending or detaining illegal border crossers - merely doing logistical, surveillance, construction or other duties to help free up regular Border Patrol officers.

The idea is to provide stopgap forces while training the 6,000 border agents - a number that would bring the overall force to 18,000, twice the number when Bush took office.

The White House wouldn't say how much the deployments would cost, but said they would be funded from a $1.9 billion request to Congress to supplement border enforcement.

Already, Democrats and some Republicans are raising alarms about leaning on the National Guard when the force is stretched thin by deployments to Iraq. Democrats also pounced on the plan as a quick fix to save Bush from his political problems.

Bush also endorsed a so-called "guest worker" program that would allow new workers to come here legally and temporarily before returning home. The most controversial component of his plan is to create a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, who would pay back taxes and a fine, learn English and get in line for legal status.

Bush also called for a tamper-proof identification card for foreign workers, more aid to states and localities for enforcement and more detention beds to end a practice of releasing illegal immigrants before trial.

At the U.S.-Mexico border now

420 National Guard troops

12,300 U.S. Border Patrol agents

What Bush wants to add

6,000 National Guard, who will be replaced by Border Patrol by 2008 = 300 Agents, troops