SAN LUIS - Standing under an oppressive Arizona sun and facing a brick oven full of political heat back home for vetoing the Legislature's multipronged immigration package Tuesday morning, Gov. Janet Napolitano was in the mood for some good news.

Maj. Gen. David Rataczak, head of Arizona's National Guard, had that good news. Moments earlier, Napolitano had greeted 55 combat engineers from the Utah National Guard. They had showed up on Saturday as the first arrivals in a national mobilization of Guard troops to assist Border Patrol operations here and in other border states.

"We're on the phone with Border Patrol every hour, Governor," Rataczak said to Napolitano. "It's going well."

Napolitano told a large media contingent that she was "delighted" to have Guard units arriving from other states, and that she expects to see "great progress." The Utah Guard in San Luis and a small contingent from Connecticut that's working in Nogales have so far been working in support roles for the Border Patrol. That means grading roads to make them more passable for patrol vehicles, setting up floodlights to illuminate trouble spots, and building or repairing border fences.

"I think the key thing is to have a sustained presence along the entire length of the U.S.-Mexico border," Napolitano said of President Bush's recent callout of the Guard to the border. "But it's particularly important for the Arizona section, which has been so porous over the past few years."

More help is on the way. About 400 Arizona Guard members have volunteered for border duty and will begin arriving around June 15, Napolitano said. Bush's plan calls for up to 6,000 National Guard members to be deployed in the four southern border states. They are not expected to perform law enforcement duties.

The National Guard adjutant generals from Texas, California, New Mexico and Arizona will meet on Friday in Phoenix to work out the logistics with Homeland Security officials for accepting more out-of-state troops to help the Border Patrol. The generals are expected to hash out what each state needs so federal authorities can assign units.

Maj. Paul Aguirre, a spokesman for the Arizona National Guard, said the Guard's engineering corps is getting valuable training during their assignment near the border. Aguirre said the Utah Guard is keeping their skills sharp building roads and other valuable installations while providing a valuable assist to the Border Patrol.

"If they weren't here doing it, they would be doing it at some other military installation within the U.S. or someplace else," Aguirre said of the Utah volunteers. "The same exact type of work. That's their military skill."

Rataczak cleared up a misconception surrounding the arrival of the Utah unit. They are part of Bush's plan to place out-of-state Guard units on the border, and weren't already scheduled to be in Arizona.

"They were going to train in Utah, saw President Bush's speech and volunteered to come down," Rataczek said.

On Monday, a Utah National Guard spokesman said the mission was planned in advance of Bush's border-enforcement announcement.

Napolitano met with several other community groups in Yuma after her border inspection. In each case, she drew applause for her veto of House Bill 2577, a broad package of illegal immigration measures. The bill included an employee sanctions measure that Napolitano derided as "employee amnesty" because the state would have paid attorneys fees and damage awards to fired employees who sued.

At a meeting of Yuma Interfaith, a group of clergy devoted to improving social services, Deacon Gary praised her for the veto.

"I want to personally thank you for being able distinguish politics from progress," said Pasquinelli, a local produce grower.

Napolitano joked that "it was nice to be out of town" after the veto.