Obama’s order to send National Guard to border is fakery

N. writes:

Here is an addendum to Paul K.’s observation regarding Obama’s “fake right, go left” play. This charade has been played many times. The image that is conveyed is of active patrols driving around the desert in HumVees or trucks, capturing intruders. But the National Guard has no arrest powers. They can’t even detain people for a moment.

What actually happens is some number of National Guard troops set up positions on hills, mountains, etc. where they can see a lot of miles of desert. Using various sensor systems including radar they can then spot people crossing the border and relay that information to the Border Patrol, who are authorized to arrest illegal entrants. In other words, they do the same thing that the Minutemen did a few years back: act as a “neighborhood watch.”

Thus the National Guard provides more “eyes and ears” and nothing more. They can’t intercept rental trucks full of drugs, can’t detain columns of illegal aliens trudging through the mountains, can’t arrest anyone. It is a kind of theater, not a serious interdiction of the border.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at May 26, 2010 12:02 PM | Send