With last weekend’s convention, the state budget back-and-forth, and the presidential race, I missed the chance to comment on something the Governor has been pushing pretty aggressively: the continuation of Operation Jump Start.
If you’ll remember, that’s the code name given to the mission assigned to the National Guard to temporarily help secure the border while thousands of additional Border Patrol agents are hired and trained. In 2006, when the federal government announced the mission, Governor Schwarzenegger wanted guarantees that California’s Guard troops would still be available to assist during disasters here, which he received. The Governor then agreed to the mission and since then, National Guard troops have been supporting the Border Patrol along our border with Mexico.
And from what I have been told, the mission has been working. Illegal border crossings are down. Arrests are up. Drug trafficking has been reduced.
The mission was scheduled to end this coming July, but the feds are apparently only about halfway toward their goal of hiring and training 6,000 more agents.
Governor Schwarzenegger has urged President Bush to continue funding for the mission. He sent an official request earlier this month and brought it up again over the weekend while he was in D.C. for the National Governors Association.
It’s the right decision. The National Guard troops are helping and pulling them away now would only endanger Californians and allow more illegal immigrants over our border.
I’m glad to see the Governor taking a strong stand on this issue.
Of course, part of the story is that the federal government hasn’t met its goal of hiring enough Border Patrol agents yet. That’s a problem. In order to have real reform, as we have said, we need to seal our porous borders, and then deal with the illegal population here in the country. Dealing with our border-security requires more equipment and more agents patrolling the border. Frankly, even the 6,000 additional agents is not enough.
But until those agents are hired, I want those National Guard troops to remain at the border. And the federal government ought to continue funding this mission until it is complete.
Here’s a link to the story I read about the Governor’s efforts in the North County Times.