House panel backs letting Guard arrest illegal crossers

By Howard Fischer

CAPITOL MEDIA SERVICES

PHOENIX — A House panel voted Monday to spend state tax dollars to put National Guard troops on the border to actually begin apprehending those who cross the border illegally.

The 6-4 vote by the House Committee on Homeland Security and Property Rights would authorize Gov. Janet Napolitano to deploy Guard units in cases of a declared emergency because of "unauthorized border crossings" resulting in an increase in deaths, crime and property damage.

Rep. Warde Nichols, R-Chandler, said Napolitano probably can already do that. But HB 2766 actually would give her the necessary $10 million, enough said Nichols for 100 soldiers for a year.

But the measure comes with a hitch: The soldiers actually would have to be in the primary role of catching border crossers. That differs from the approximately 2,000 Guard troops now in Southern Arizona doing support functions ranging from surveillance to repairs.