John Ensign: “I will speak just briefly, because it is late. I am not going to take up a lot of time, but this is a very important…”

“I will speak just briefly, because it is late. I am not going to take up a lot of time, but this is a very important amendment. The substance of this amendment is something that I have been working on for over a month. During the last Congressional recess, I went down to Yuma, AZ, where the President was today. I saw firsthand what an extraordinary job our Border Patrol is doing. I also observed firsthand how undermanned the agency is and how overwhelmed they are with the numbers that are coming across our southern border. When I was at the border, I asked a question of the Border Patrol personnel. That question was: Could you use more National Guardsmen at the border, beyond those in the Counter Drug Program, to help you with your mission of protecting and securing our borders? The overwhelming answer was that they would absolutely welcome our National Guard in larger numbers down on the border. The Border Patrol was very clear. It would create problems if the National Guard were to come down to the border to carry on law enforcement duties like arresting, detaining, and questioning detainees. Each of those things are part of the speciality role that the Border Patrol should do. They are, after all, highly trained law enforcement personnel while the National Guard is trained in other areas, areas for which the Border Patrol requires support. In his Monday night address, the President proposed using up to 6,000 National Guardsmen on the border this year.…”