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Fewer guardsmen to assist along border

TUCSON, Ariz. — Things are starting to wind down for National Guard troops deployed across the U.S. and Mexican border.

Next month, the number of National Guard troops along the border will be cut in half from 6,000 to 3,000 nationally.

In Arizona, troop reductions will fall from 2,400 to 1,200, said National Guard Capt. Kristine Munn.

The pullout started July 1 and is scheduled to be completed by Sept. 1.

Since the troops took up their positions along the border, they have helped agents get back to patrolling the border.

During their time at the border, Guard members have manned radios, repaired vehicles and helped build roads and fences.

National Guard troops have also served as an extra set of eyes and ears at border observation posts.

Cutting the ranks of National Guard troops will be detrimental to the Border Patrols efforts to slow illegal immigration, said agency officials, the local union and a former agency supervisor.

If the feds are going to cut the number of National Guard troops working along the border, it will mean there are fewer bodies out there to deter and observe and report intrusions, said Dave Stoddard, a former Border Patrol supervisor who retired in 1996 and lives in Bisbee.

Not everyone is upset about the troop pullout.

The presence of National Guard troops has increased the militarization of the border and forced illegal entrants to try crossing more remote and hostile areas, said Jennifer Allen, director of Border Action Network, a Tucson-based immigrant rights organization.

Allen said they are glad the number of troops is decreasing, but it would be even better if there was no National Guard presence on the border.

President Bush ordered the troops to provide temporary relief along the border while the Border Patrol worked toward adding 6,000 new agents to reach a total of 18,000 by the end of 2008.