HOUSE VOTES TO AUTHORIZE TROOPS ON BORDER

But Measure Expected To Go No Further

WASHINGTON - Setting aside Pentagon concerns, House lawmakers on Thursday
approved a measure allowing the deployment of troops to the U.S.-Mexico
border for anti-drug and counterterrorism operations.

On a 242-181 vote, the House endorsed an amendment offered by Rep. Jim
Traficant, D-Ohio, to the $288.8 billion defense authorization bill.

The measure would authorize the Defense Department, at the request of the
attorney general or treasury secretary, to dispatch troops to assist the
Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Customs Service in their
border drug interdiction and counterterrorism activities.

"Our current policy to stop drugs and terrorists along the border has
failed," said Traficant, a former sheriff and drug counselor. "The number
one security threat facing America, the weak link, is our border ."

But critics termed the amendment, opposed by the Defense Department, as
unnecessary and ill-advised.

"The evidence is overwhelming: Our military is stretched to the breaking
point," said Rep. Steve Buyer, R-Ind.

Instead of dispatching armed soldiers untrained in civilian law enforcement
tactics to the border , Rep. Silvestre Reyes said Congress should provide
more funds for federal law enforcement.

"We need more Border Patrol agents, we need more Customs inspectors and we
need more INS inspectors," said Reyes, D-El Paso, who was a Border Patrol
sector chief before coming to Congress.

Rep. Solomon Ortiz, like Traficant a former sheriff, also opposed the
provision.

"We are painfully aware that drugs are coming across the border ," said
Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi. "But the answer to that problem is to increase the
Border Patrol staff along the border , not reinforce it with troops trained
to shoot to kill."

Although Traficant has secured House approval each year since 1997, the
measure has fallen short of becoming law because the Senate has not taken
similar action. House negotiators have failed to press their position
during final negotiations with their Senate counterparts during past
conference committees - to Traficant's dismay.

"I want some support in the conference," Traficant shouted during the
debate. "This is the House of Representatives. Show some backbone."

Reyes predicted the measure would suffer a similar fate this year.

"Although we were unsuccessful in defeating this ill-conceived amendment, I
am confident that this provision will be taken out of the bill in
conference committee," Reyes said. "It is unfortunate that some members of
Congress want to place our communities under martial law."

Always controversial, the issue of troops on the border became even more
polarized with the 1997 shooting death of 18-year-old Esequiel Hernandez
Jr. during a Marine Corps surveillance mission gone awry near Redford, Texas.

Following the outcry over Hernandez's death, the Pentagon suspended its
anti-drug surveillance operations along the border .

The Defense Department expressed no desire to expand its border -related
activities.

In a position paper distributed to lawmakers, the Pentagon opposed
Traficant's amendment, saying it would provide "no corresponding military
benefit."

"The Department of Defense does not consider (the amendment) necessary or
appropriate and believes it would detract from readiness," the position
paper said.