A government plan to use National Guard troops to help stem Mexican drug violence along the southern U.S. border is stymied by disagreements over who will pay for the soldiers and how they would be used.
Under President Obama’s orders in June to help secure the border with Mexico, the Pentagon and the Homeland Security Department drafted a $225 million plan to deploy temporarily 1,500 Guard troops to supplement Border Patrol agents.
The two agencies are wrangling over how to structure the deployment, but the primary sticking point is the money, according to senior administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
The funding stalemate lingers even after Mr. Obama renewed his commitment to Mexican officials Monday to reinforce the border and to help Mexico battle the drug cartels. Fierce battles between Mexican law enforcement and the cartels have left as many as 11,000 people dead and fueled concerns about violence spilling into the United States.
“The United States,” Mr. Obama said Monday during a news conference in Mexico, “will also meet its responsibilities by continuing our efforts to reduce the demand for drugs and continuing to strengthening the security of our shared border - not only to protect the American people, but to stem the illegal southbound flow of American guns and cash that helps fuel this extraordinary violence.”
Meanwhile, state leaders are getting antsy. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, is still waiting for a response to his request for 1,000 more troops, his spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger said Tuesday.
“For too long, the border has gone without the adequate resources to secure it,” Miss Cesinger said. “It’s a federal responsibility, but a Texas problem.”
White House spokesman Nick Shapiro cautioned that Mr. Obama has not made any decision yet on the issue. “The president is firmly committed to ensuring that our borders are secure and that we are doing all that we can to cut off the flow of drugs, illegal weapons and bulk cash in both directions,” he said.
Early drafts of the Pentagon’s plan revealed that the Defense Department would seek reimbursement for its costs of the program, which is slated to last one year, giving the Border Patrol time to build up its force of agents.
The Homeland Security Department, which expects to get about $44 billion in its overall 2010 budget compared with the Pentagon’s $636 billion, is reluctant to bear the costs of the proposed program.
Military officials have balked at having a highly visible uniformed presence at border crossings and have insisted that the United States avoid any appearance of militarizing the border. There also is concern that while the program would be federally funded, the Guard members would be under the control of the border states’ governors.
Pentagon officials have grumbled that the latest demands come as the United States is still fighting two wars, including an escalation of fighting in Afghanistan, and the Guard units are still needed to take on some of the battlefield duties.
• Eileen Sullivan contributed to this report.
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