Utah Guardsmen arrive at border

PHOENIX — Fifty-five National Guard members from Utah arrived in Yuma on Saturday afternoon as the first troops to be sent to the Arizona-Mexico border in a new plan to crack down on illegal immigration.

The Utah troops were supposed to work on fences and other projects as part of the Guard's long-standing efforts at the Arizona border, officials had said as late as Wednesday.

But their mission has since been folded into President Bush's plan to send up to 6,000 National Guard troops to the four southern border states to help federal immigration agents.

The Utah troops got word of the change Friday from Guard officials in Washington, D.C., said Maj. Hank McIntire, a spokesman for the Utah National Guard.

They were scheduled to be briefed on their mission today and start their field work as early as Monday, McIntire said.

Under the president's plan, troops would perform support duties that would free up federal authorities to focus on border security. They wouldn't perform significant law enforcement duties.

The Utah troops, who will not carry weapons, will be in Yuma for two weeks installing improved lighting at a border crossing site, extending an existing border fence and building a road, McIntire said.

The projects will be done in the area of San Luis, Ariz., a town 25 miles south of Yuma with a fortified stretch of border with Mexico.

The town is part of the nation's busiest U.S. Border Patrol station.

A 12-foot corrugated metal fence divides San Luis from Mexico, followed 50 yards later by an 8-foot chain-link fence topped with barbed wire and towers with surveillance cameras. Stadium lights help agents spot those who try to slip across under the cover of darkness.

"We are pleased and excited that this has finally got under way because the request has been in place for so long in Arizona," said Jeanine L'Ecuyer, spokeswoman for Gov. Janet Napolitano.

Napolitano proposed a similar plan in December, but her plan remained on the shelf while funding was sought.

Arizona is the nation's busiest illegal entry point, and illegal immigration is considered the top political issue this year.

Officials say 300 National Guard soldiers from Arizona were expected to begin arriving at the state's border in mid-June.

About 170 National Guard troops are already helping federal and state officers there with communications, fence construction and anti-drug efforts. The National Guard has been providing such assistance along the Arizona border for more than 15 years.

Troops from the Utah Guard were deployed to Iraq in 2004 and 2005 and helped with recovery efforts following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, McIntire said. Their mission along the border will better prepare them when they are assigned to disaster and war efforts, he said.