Utah won't be asked to send any more troops to the U.S.-Mexico border as part of President Bush's plan to stem illegal immigration, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. said Monday.

"As of right now, we've been told we don't need to be a part of that," Huntsman said in a telephone interview after meeting with members of the Utah National Guard, the first troops deployed under Bush's Operation Jump Start.

The 55 soldiers, who are repairing a fence, building a road and installing lighting along the border near Yuma, Ariz., are scheduled to return home Saturday after spending two weeks in the blazing desert heat with the U.S. Border Patrol.

"They're proud of what they're doing," Huntsman said after spending more than an hour talking and shaking hands with the troops. "They know this is in our national security interest as a country. They're proud to be the first called into action."

But the governor said he's been told by officials in Washington, D.C., that Utah soldiers won't be returning to the border even though a total of 6,000 National Guard troops will end up being deployed as part of the operation.

"We have no plans to send any more beyond these 55," Huntsman said. "The border states are likely to be making fairly significant contributions to the the efforts over the next few weeks."

Utah National Guard Capt. Talon Greeff said, in a telephone interview from Arizona, that he'd like to come back. "This mission along the border has been very good for soldiers. It's been very good training," Greeff said.

Both Greeff and Utah National Guard Sgt. Leslie Billey said they appreciated the governor's visit. "It makes it a lot easier to know the leadership cares and sees what you're doing," Billey said.

The presence of the 116th Construction Support Equipment Company, the 489th Engineer Detachment and the 1457th Engineer Battalion from Utah may have already had an effect on illegal immigration.

Since the beginning of June, the number of detentions along the border has dropped 21 percent, compared to the same period last year, from 34,077 in 2005 to just less than 27,000 this year, The Associated Press reported.

"It seems to be having an impact," Huntsman said of the new operation. The governor said while he had not seen the numbers, Border Patrol officials told him the number of illegal crossings was decreasing.

The soldiers are not supposed to perform law enforcement duties, such as detaining anyone crossing the border. But migrant rights activists told the wire service that would-be crossers were afraid of the military because of reports of abuse in Iraq.