TN governor unsure about increased Guard duties on border

ERIK SCHELZIG
The Associated Press

TUCSON - Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen says he's going to have to carefully consider whether the role of National Guardsmen along the U.S.-Mexico border should be changed.

Bredesen has previously deflected criticism of the rules for when guardsmen are allowed to use force and whether they should be allowed to detain illegal immigrants.

"There's always a concern about using the military for police purposes within (U.S.) borders," Bredesen said while visiting Tennessee guard troops near the Arizona-Mexico border on Thursday. "And at the same time, these are very well-trained people, and the problem is obviously enormous."

According to Wikipedia:

The Posse Comitatus Act is a United States federal law (18 U.S.C. § 1385) passed on 1878-06-18 after the end of Reconstruction. The Act was intended to prohibit Federal troops from supervising elections in former Confederate states. It generally prohibits Federal military personnel and units of the United States National Guard under Federal authority from acting in a law enforcement capacity within the United States, except where expressly authorized by the Constitution or Congress.

The governor is obviously confused or ignorant of the law, neither is surprising. It is for exactly a situation such as we have on the border that the National Guard should be deployed. 12 million people illegally in the USA constitutes an invasion. -mm