Looking for help on the border: those who claim that the federal government lacks the resources to secure our borders should consider the enormous human and economic resources allocated elsewhere.

"First, the United States must secure its borders," declared President Bush, in his May 15 televised address to the nation on immigration. He continued: "This is a basic responsibility of a sovereign nation. It is also an urgent requirement of our national security.... The border should be open to trade and lawful immigration, and shut to illegal immigrants, as well as criminals, drug dealers, and terrorists."

Putting On a Show

This was not the first time the president had delivered tough talk about border security. But, critics point out, it has been just that--talk--he has never delivered on the promised goods: the increased personnel, budget, and infrastructure necessary to actually gain control over our badly broken borders. To convince skeptics that he really means business about border security, the president said that he would be sending "up to 6,000" members of the National Guard to our southern border, while gradually adding 6,000 Border Patrol officers.

Those numbers may sound impressive to some, but knowledgeable observers of the president's disastrous immigration record are unimpressed, seeing it as too little, too late and too susceptible to reversal. Experts who have been calling for deployment of U.S. military forces on the border have usually cited the need for 15,000-25,000 troops to deal adequately with the current crisis situation.

Former Border Patrol sector chief and Border Patrol Academy director (and former Bush supporter) William King told THE NEW AMERICAN that the president "may put some National Guard down there for a little while, but he's already saying that they won't be allowed to do anything substantive. So they'll be put there for show for a few months before the election. President Bush has shown over and over again that he's very good at making promises to secure the border, but also very dependable on breaking those promises."

What about the promised 6,000 additional Border Patrol agents? Mr. King reminds us that in 2004 President Bush made a similar pledge, promising to add 10,000 Border Patrol agents, and even signed it into law. But two months later he reneged on the deal. Instead of the promised 10,000 agents, the Border Patrol got only 210! "That was a step backward," says King, "since it didn't even make UP for the Border Patrol's losses to attrition."

Words Versus Deeds