For example, Lucianne.com links to two related stories, the first from The Hill quotes the president of the Border Patrol's union calling the deployment of the National Guard to the border a "colossal waste of resources." The second from the Washington Examiner reports:
As of Friday, National Guard troops assisted U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and Border Patrol agents in apprehending 4,116 illegal immigrants, turning back 1,182 people, and seizing 3,486 pounds of marijuana since April 15, according to new DHS data first obtained by the Washington Examiner.Who is lying? Probably both sides are exaggerating, if not lying. They obviously "sit" in different places.
The union president wants to protect jobs for his members; he would rather the Feds hired more border agents. He doesn't want to see the military get a semi-permanent role on the border as he can't enroll troops as members.
The Department of Homeland Security reports to the President and is duty-bound to support his policies, one of which is sending the Guard to the border. So they need to say it's working.
As usual, the truth is somewhere in the middle. I believe the Guard have helped, sometimes quite a lot. Border Patrol agents are, however, more useful as they have arrest and detainment powers while troopers don't.
The main advantage of the National Guard is the President can call them up w/o going to Congress. Hiring new BP agents - beyond those already authorized and funded - requires legislation which in the current environment is quite hard to get.
