NEW MEXICO GOV. BILL RICHARDSON SENDS NATIONAL GUARD TO
BORDER

EL PASO -- New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson on Wednesday ordered
National Guard soldiers to patrol the state's border with Mexico after
the killing of a rancher in Arizona.

Soldiers will be assisting the U.S. Border Patrol by setting up
surveillance in counter-drug efforts in the desert along the border,
said a spokes man for the state's National Guard.

"Basically, it is just assisting them with observation and giving them
a lot more eyes on the border," Lt. Col. Jamison Herrera said.

"We stand ready to support federal and local law enforcement to make
sure the southern border of New Mexico stays safe and secure," Herrera
said.

State officials, citing operational security, would not disclose the
number of soldiers who will be deployed, where they will be posted or
what types of equipment will be used.

During similar operations in the past, soldiers have used infrared
devices that can view body heat to keep a watch on the border.

Herrera said the Air and Army National Guard in New Mexico consists of
about 4,000 people.

Residents of Southern New Mexico have expressed concerns after the
Arizona rancher's murder, possibly committed by someone who crossed
the border.

Robert Krentz, 58, was shot and killed on Saturday while he worked on
his remote ranch west of the New Mexico state line. No one has been
arrested, but the trail of a suspect led authorities to the Mexican
border.

Richardson's office confirmed that the deployment is due to fears of
residents in the New Mexico Bootheel region after Krentz's murder.

The New Mexico Bootheel and the adjacent southeastern Arizona area
have reportedly seen a spike in recent months in immigrant-related
crime, including vandalism and home break-ins.

"I want residents in Southern New Mexico to know we are taking this
border violence very seriously by adding the National Guard presence
along with state, local and federal law enforcement patrols along the
border," Richardson said in a statement.

On Tuesday, Richardson announced that state police and sheriffs'
patrols would increase on the border while the Krentz killing remains
under investigation.

The rancher's death also spurred U.S. Sens. Jeff Bingaman and Tom
Udall, along with Rep. Harry Teague, all of New Mexico, to ask the
Department of Homeland Security to increase the number of Border
Patrol agents in the area and set up a Forward Operating Base in the
New Mexico Bootheel.

Troops had been sent to the New Mexico border before. The federal
Operation Jump Start placed guardsmen along the border to help watch
for illegal crossings and build the border fence in 2007 and 2008.

The deployment in New Mexico comes weeks after Texas Gov. Rick Perry
activated the Texas Military Forces OH-58 Kiowa and the UH-72 Lakota
helicopters to patrol the border between El Paso and Browns ville.

The Texas deployment is part of the first phase of Perry's classified
plan, which he said is necessary to prevent the spillover of drug
violence from Mexico. Perry's critics panned the move as nothing more
than election-year grandstanding.

Harold Kuenstler, a county commissioner in Hidalgo County in the New
Mexico Bootheel, said Richardson's announcement is a good step.

"When the National Guard has gone to the Bootheel, there was a
decrease" in trafficking activity, he said. "They have a high presence
and visibility, and entries slowed down."

Kuenstler, who ran the Border Patrol's Lordsburg station until
retiring in 1997, said he thinks the agency needs to shift how it
monitors for undocumented immigrant traffic in rural regions. Now, he
said, agents work too far from the border.

"If you wait for them to come 30 miles up, how many ranches have they
come through?" he asked. "If you're stationed 10 miles from the
border, what about that rancher that has a ranch within 10 miles?"