Free Republic

EDINBURG - The Texas National Guard is set to end a two-year border security mission this week. And while the guardsmen's arrival in South Texas was met with concern from civil liberties groups, the soldiers have departed with relatively little fanfare. Most of the more than 500 guardsmen once stationed in the Rio Grande Valley have already been released from border duty even though their mission isn't set to expire until Tuesday, said Dan Doty, a local spokesman for the U.S. Border Patrol. "I still see one or two of them around occasionally," he said. "But most of them have...

One windy afternoon last week at the border fence, a construction platform carrying a crew of National Guard personnel moved slowly along the barrier, sparks flying from blowtorches as the guardsmen straightened and retrofitted the steel posts. For most of them, it would be their last task on the border. “I'll go wherever they want me to go,” said Staff Sgt. Dan McBride, 44, the crew's supervisor, a mail carrier from Fresno who plans to go back to his full-time job for a while before his likely deployment to Iraq in February. “But this has been sweet, San Diego.” After...

LAREDO, Texas -- Three National Guardsmen assigned to the Texas-Mexico border were accused of running an immigrant smuggling ring after 24 immigrants were found inside a van one of them was driving, the U.S. Attorney said Monday. The three, arrested late Thursday and Friday, were arraigned Monday on the federal charge of conspiring to transport illegal immigrants. Pfc. Jose Rodrigo Torres, 26, and Sgt. Julio Cesar Pacheco, 25, both of Laredo, and Sgt. Clarence Hodge Jr., 36, of Fort Worth were arrested near Laredo. A Border Patrol agent found 24 illegal immigrants inside a van Torres was driving along Interstate...

(AP) SAN DIEGO, Calif. Authorities say all nine people aboard a National Guard helicopter were injured Tuesday afternoon when the chopper crashed near the U.S./Mexico border. San Diego sheriff's Lieutenant Dave Myers says the helicopter went down in the Otay Mountain area east of San Diego. A Border Patrol helicopter landed near the accident site to transport three injured people. The injured were reportedly being transported to a hospital in San Diego. The injuries are described as moderate to major. The helicopter came to rest on its belly, its top rotor snapped off and what appeared to be its tail...

1st Sgt. LarryTalvy said, "The aircraft had definitely been destroyed severely. When you look at it, you're surprised anyone survived the accident." Twenty-four hours after a National Guard helicopter crashed in Cochise County, News 4 takes a closer look at the scene. The National Guard was using the chopper for Operation Jump Start, President Bush's program to put boots on the border, to help with security. The helicopter, tangled in power lines, caught fire after an emergency landing east of Douglas around 3:00 p.m. Thursday afternoon. The pilot and a Border Patrol agent made it out safely. It was...

New Jersey National Guard Spc. Luis Ataca had a bird's-eye view of America's latest war on illegal im migration. It didn't look quite like he expected. For the better part of the past two weeks, the 28-year-old Rahway man stood in a portable tower for hours at a time, staring through a pair of binoculars powerful enough to make out a rabbit running through the open desert 2 miles away. From his post on a rocky outcropping, the soldier who spent 2004 patrolling Baghdad had an unobstructed view of the Mexican village of Palomas and a decrepit cattle fence that...

PHOENIX - Federal law enforcement agencies along Arizona's border with Mexico are on alert for a suspected al-Qaida operative who may be working his way north to the United States from Honduras. Susan Herskovits, spokeswoman for the FBI's Phoenix office, said Adnan G. El Shukrijumah, a 29-year-old Saudi national, was reportedly seen in Honduras recently. The man was one of a number of suspected terrorists being sought by the United States recently. Because the border between Arizona and the Mexican state of Sonora is a popular smuggling route for illegal immigrants the alert for El Shukrijumah includes both the American...

CAMP MURRAY, Wash. An estimated 300 members National Guard troops from Washington state are preparing today for a voluntary deployment to Arizona, where they will help in the federal effort to curb illegal border crossings. The soldiers and airmen from across Washington will be based in Yuma, where they'll primarily help Border Patrol and U-S Customs agents monitor surveillance systems. The group is expected to return home in 30 days.

Tucson Region Guardsmen housed at resort Thanks to Arizona colleagues, Md. unit on border duty stays at Ventana Canyon By Josh Brodesky arizona daily star Tucson, Arizona | Published: 08.11.2006 advertisement Pvt. Richard Kelser, left, and Spc. Robert Scanlon of the Maryland National 158th Calvary have fun in the pool at Loews Ventana Canyon resort on Thursday Aug. 10, 2006, in Tucson. James S. Wood / Arizona Daily Star When 2nd Lt. Brian Zdunowski shipped out for border duty this summer for Operation Jump Start, luxury was far from his mind. Zdunowski, 34, was eager to see the Arizona-Mexico...

Guard member dies during training on Arizona-Mexico border The Associated Press Tucson, Arizona | Published: 08.11.2006 advertisement A Pennsylvania National Guard soldier died Thursday after she collapsed in 100-plus degree heat during a training mission on the Arizona-Mexico border near Yuma. A guard spokesman says Spc. Kirsten Fike was two hours into the first day of a border surveillance mission on Wednesday when she collapsed.

SAN DIEGO – Nine hundred soldiers of the California National Guard are at work along the U.S.-Mexico border as part of Operation Jump Start – improving roads, repairing fences, manning surveillance cameras. Just about everything, in fact, except patrolling the border. Called Joint Task Force Vista, the force is expected eventually to grow to about 1,100 soldiers covering the border from the Pacific Ocean to the Arizona state line, said Col. Kevin Ellsworth, task force commander. On Wednesday, Ellsworth and his staff gave reporters a peek at their operations along the border, which began last month. “We've had an amazing...

LAREDO, Texas, July 17, 2006 – National Guard troops flowing to the Southwest border are highly visible to drivers at an Interstate 35 inspection station north of this Texas border town as soldiers assist U.S. Border Patrol agents scrutinizing every northbound vehicle. A Texas National Guard soldier and Border Patrol Senior Agent Chad Wamsley accompany Ricky I, a Belgian Malinois, as the detection dog checks a tractor-trailer truck for drugs or concealed people at the Border Patrol's Interstate 35 checkpoint, north of Laredo, Texas. The soldier, who is not being named for security reasons, volunteered to serve for a...