MIXED RESULTS SO FAR FROM NATIONAL GUARD'S BORDER MISSION

Arrests Are Down From Last Year -- but Drug Seizures Rise

By Randal C. Archibold, New York Times

Nogales, Ariz. -- The border may have a reputation for drama, intrigue
and danger, but Spc. James Dwiggins of the Wisconsin National Guard
has not seen much of that in the reception booth of the Border Patrol
station here, where he works answering phones and sliding a clipboard
for visitors to sign in.

From a camera room at the station, Spc. Kirsten Schultz of the
Wisconsin Guard has seen a lot of people crossing the border. Out in
the field, Spc. David Murray of the Virginia National Guard stares out
at the hills lining the border, waiting and watching.

"I don't see that we are having an impact," Murray said. "But every
time the Border Patrol comes up, they tell us movement of people has
almost completely stopped through here."

For the National Guard troops sent to Nogales, many of the tasks in
the border mission may seem humdrum, but the Border Patrol, eager for
any help it can get, has claimed some early success as the operation
moves into full swing.

Critics still question whether the troops are making a big difference.
They do not make arrests, both because they are not trained to do so
and to avoid domestic and international political squabbles. But
Border Patrol officials said the soldiers, whether in an office or on
a hilltop, have freed more than 250 agents for regular patrolling,
which, combined with the presence of the Guard, has acted as a
deterrent to crossers.

The number of arrests in July, when large numbers of soldiers took up
positions, declined 37 percent to 59,613 along the 2,000-mile-long
southwestern border compared with July last year, officials said.
Guard troops also have participated in several rescues of crossers
stranded in the desert.

"Operation Jump Start has been tremendous," the Border Patrol chief,
David Aguilar, said last month. Arrest figures fluctuate greatly
because of weather, trends in enforcement, and political and
socioeconomic conditions in Mexico and Central America.

Advocates for immigrants said they suspected human trafficking had
simply shifted away from the fortified positions into more remote,
rugged terrain. Since October, the beginning of the government's
fiscal year, arrests overall have declined in Arizona, the current
focus of enforcement, but increased in California, suggesting
trafficking is returning there after years of declines.

The presence of the Guard apparently has not deterred drug smugglers,
with the Border Patrol reporting an increase in drug seizures so far
this year. Marijuana is up 20 percent to 1,262,860 pounds and cocaine
less than 1 percent to 8,816 pounds.

President Bush ordered the Guard to the border as a stopgap while the
Border Patrol hires and trains 6,000 agents by the end of 2008,
bringing the force to 18,000.

The Guard's duties, which include operating cameras and observation
posts, fixing vehicles, and repairing and building fences and roads,
have not mollified critics who call the mission window dressing to
appease conservative lawmakers demanding more action to stanch the
flow of illegal immigrants.

Bush had set a goal of up to 6,000 troops on the border by Aug. 1. The
National Guard said 6,600 were in the four border states but that only
about 3,000 were "forward deployed" near the international boundary,
with the rest either working as administrative staff members or
undergoing training.