Bush inspects border with Mexico

YUMA, Ariz. – Declaring that “we do not have full control of the border,” President Bush on Thursday visited an area where arrests – and deaths – of would-be immigrants have risen dramatically, and he urged the Senate to complete work on immigration legislation by the end of the month.

The president spent roughly an hour inspecting the arid and stark border, marked by a 20-foot-tall corrugated metal structure, an 8-foot-tall chain-link fence topped by razor-sharp concertina wire, powerful lights, watchtowers and video cameras – an ever-growing low- and high-tech arsenal deployed in a sector where the Border Patrol says the most apprehensions have occurred.

Then, speaking to officers at their headquarters here, about 20 miles north of the border, he said 6,000 National Guard troops were needed to help secure the border while the Border Patrol is beefed up over the next two years because “the need to enforce the border is urgent.”

“It’s time to get immediate results,” Bush said.

The president’s daylong journey, three days after he announced the National Guard deployment, was designed to highlight his newly emphasized commitment to immigration issues.

But he is caught between those who argue that border duty would overtax the National Guard and those who are demanding a more muscular effort along the border. Some critics have also expressed concern that the border is becoming militarized.

“The Guard will operate surveillance and communications systems. They will install fences and vehicle barriers. They’re going to help build patrol roads, they will analyze intelligence, they will help spot people. But the Border Patrol will be involved in direct law enforcement,” Bush said.