San Ysidro
The head of the California Army National Guard has scheduled an inspection this month of the Mexican border at San Ysidro to determine how guard personnel can best assist border security agencies.
Maj. Gen. Herb Temple will visit the international border June 23 “to see what guardsmen can do to bring more security to the border,” said U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Coronado.
Hunter has advocated use of military resources to regain control of the border in San Diego County, the scene of increased drug smuggling and illegal immigration despite the efforts of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, Customs Service and Drug Enforcement Administration.
“We have received good cooperation from the Pentagon on this and want to take full advantage of the military resources available to help our currently limited DEA, customs and immigration people working the border,” Hunter said.
He said National Guard personnel would be under the direction of DEA, Customs or INS agents. “They would be auxiliary agents in their border roles, not military units,” Hunter said. “We just need more manpower at the border and people from the Guard can help us fill in the gaps.”
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