One member of Congress said Monday that the National Guard should be deployed to the United States' border with Mexico to combat the influx of illegal immigrant children.
Republican Rep. Candice Miller of Michigan sent a letter to President Barack Obama urging him to stack the border with troops instead of having them process and babysit the children at other locations.
"This diversion away from normal patrol responsibilities will result in an increase of drugs and migrants illicitly crossing our border," Miller said, the
Washington Times reported.
Sixty thousand children, most of them from Central American countries, have arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border in fiscal year 2014. Estimates say 90,000 will arrive by year's end. They have been surrendering to U.S. authorities and are being held in temporary facilities while the administration figures out what to do with them.
The National Guard has deployed to the border in recent years, most notably in 2006 when President George W. Bush dispatched 6,000 troops to California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas when the Border Patrol was hiring more agents and officers. According to official statistics, the program, called
Operation Jump Start, led to 5,003 apprehensions, 110 vehicle seizures, and 28,577 pounds of marijuana seized.
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