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Members of the Arizona National
Guard monitor the border Tuesday via
video from the Yuma Station
Communications Center at the Border
Patrol headquarters in Yuma,
Ariz.Pvt. Ashley Christopher, left,
Border Patrol vehicle control
officer Paul G. Franco III, center,
and Sgt. 1st Class Raymond Wong work
on a Border Patrol vehicle Wednesday
at the Border Patrol garage in Yuma.
Left: Sgt. 1st Class Raymond Wong
talks with other guardsmen Wednesday
at the garage in Yuma. Arizona has
been the nation's busiest entry
point for illegal crossings. Above:
Sgt. 1st Class Henry Castillo works
on a light tower generator at the
Border Patrol garage. (Matt York/The
Associated Press ) |
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YUMA, Ariz.- Pvt. Ashley Christopher, a
member of the Arizona National Guard for
only a year, and Sgt. 1st Class Henry
Castillo, who has served more than two
decades, reflect the diversity of Guard
volunteers supporting the Border Patrol's
Southwest border clampdown.
But they say all the guardsmen share a
sense of mission, and none considers the new
job to be a hardship.
''Just to wear the uniform is a
blessing,'' said Castillo, 46, an ex-Marine
with 26 years in the Guard. He was repairing
a generator set Wednesday, one of a
half-dozen guardsmen working in the Border
Patrol's air-conditioned motor pool
maintenance shop here.
''I've been on flood duties, fire duties,
airport duties, any kind of duty they can
come up with, I've volunteered for every one
of them, and my employers are very good
about that,'' Castillo said.
The plan President Bush outlined last
month calls for
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Members of the Arizona National
Guard monitor the border Tuesday via
video from the Yuma Station
Communications Center at the Border
Patrol headquarters in Yuma,
Ariz.Pvt. (Matt York/The Associated
Press )
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placing 6,000 soldiers such as Castillo and
Christopher in non-law-enforcement roles
assisting the Border Patrol along the
2,000-mile border with Mexico this year.
For up to two years, the Guard will take
over support jobs that now tie up
immigration agents, monitoring sensors,
radios and border cameras and dispatching
agents in the field to intercept smugglers
guiding illegal immigrants and drug
traffickers. Guardsmen also will work on
such improvements as fencing, lighting,
roads and vehicle barriers while the Border
Patrol recruits 6,000 more agents to beef up
to about 18,000.
Arizona, with about 375 miles of the
Mexican border, has been the nation's
busiest entry point for illegal crossings.
More than 300 Arizona National Guardsmen
should be on duty by month's end, said Maj.
Paul Aguirre, a spokesman for the state
Guard, supplemented by hundreds
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Members of the Arizona National
Guard monitor the border Tuesday via
video from the Yuma Station
Communications Center at the Border
Patrol headquarters in Yuma, Ariz.
(Matt York/The Associated Press )
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from other states.
Across the entire border with Mexico, the
goal is to have 2,500 troops in place by
Friday and 6,000 by Sept. 1, said Kristine
Munn of the National Guard Bureau.
Munn could not provide a state-by-state
breakdown, but officials said previously
that Arizona was likely to receive 40
percent of the total. Most will be assigned
within the larger Tucson sector.
Border Patrol officials say it's too soon
to say how many agents will be freed up,
though Yuma Sector Chief Ronald Colburn has
said the ideal would be a one-for-one
exchange - an agent on the line for every
guardsman who arrives for behind-the-scenes
work.
Nevertheless, the impact of the National
Guard's arrival has been felt already.
''They've been a tremendous amount of
help in shoring up our necessary
infrastructure projects, and we believe
they're already
starting to show some impact here in the
sector,'' said Border Patrol spokesman Chris
Van Wagenen.
''They're very good guys. Each one of
them seems to be very dedicated to what
they're doing, and they seem quite pleased
to be part of this project,'' he said. ''It
makes it very easy to work with them because
they want to be here.''
The motor pool crew certainly feels that
way.
''We're all here to give Border Patrol
and Customs whatever assistance they need,''
said Sgt. 1st Class Raymond Wong, a
battalion motor sergeant - an Army-trained
mechanic - from Phoenix, who was working
with Christopher and a Border Patrol
mechanic replacing worn motor mounts beneath
a hoisted patrol vehicle.
''The better we work on their equipment,
the better their equipment is, the better
job that they will be able to perform out
there, and safety is No. 1 for the agents
out in the field,'' Wong said. ''So that's
our objective, to make sure their equipment
is operational and safe for them to operate
in the field and enforce the laws of our
country.''
In the Yuma sector's communications
center, a combination of Border Patrol
agents, civilian employees and other
previously deployed National Guard members
continuously monitor 25 cameras atop 50-foot
poles that span the border from Andrade,
Calif., to San Luis, Ariz.
Those assigned to the motor pool here
include Spc. Rodney Paguia, a saxophone and
bass player who is playing a different tune
in Yuma - servicing vehicles - and Sgt. 1st
Class James Allen, a federal correctional
officer, guardsman for 22 years and a
generator mechanic who served in Iraq with
Castillo and also was there during the Gulf
War.
''It's much better here than it is in
Iraq,'' Allen offered.
For Christopher, 22, being deployed to
Yuma isn't bad, and family and friends in
Phoenix are only a phone call away as she
bunks down in her hotel room each night.
''Sure, I could be hanging out at home,
but you accept that when you join the
Army,'' Christopher said. ''We could be
sleeping in tents, so it could always be
worse.'' |