Rep. Cuellar Issues Statement on Presidents Shift on Militarizing Border Communities

I am pleased that the White House is walking back their position on sending active duty military to neighborhoods along our border. Contrary to his initial statement it is apparent now that the President intends to send the National Guard to support existing border security operations-- an idea that I can support now as I have supported it in the past. In Congress I have worked hard to secure funding for the National Guard to provide operational support to the Department of Homeland Security while these citizen soldiers prepare for overseas deployments. Under the Obama Administration I supported funding for Operation Phalanx a program through which the National Guard provided aerial surveillance detection and enhanced situational awareness capabilities for the U.S. Border Patrol. Given that the U.S. Border Patrol is experiencing historically low border crossings we need to examine the details of the plan in order to determine whether use of the National Guard to help secure our southwest border is a viable and cost-effective measure. I strongly believe that securing the border starts with ensuring that we implement policies that will have long-term significant outcomes on the area in a safe and reliable way. It appears that the administrations solutions to secure the border have been reactive and unsuitable to the issues at hand. I encourage the administration to maintain our bilateral relationship with Mexico and focus on providing resources to equip our agents by updating technologies employing additional border security personnel and increasing immigration judges along the border.