Mr. President. from what I can tell. it is receiving rave reviews. It seems to me if the Guard can assist in antidrug programs and anticrime efforts. then it should be able to assist our woefully understaffed Border Patrol. Along the California border. there are 600 Border Patrol officers. with only 200. Mr. President. in any given shift. Experts tell me we need another 500 Border Patrol agents in California. Hopefully. President Clintons efforts will yield us about 200 additional Border Patrol officers. but we will still be short of agents. Therefore. I believe this is the time to be creative. Controlling our borders is a must. The National Guard is a viable resource which could augment Border Patrol efforts. There are over 500.000 members of the Guard nationally. some 22.000 in California alone. and I believe a portion of them can be used to protect our borders. Here is an example of what it could mean to Californias Border Patrol if they receive the support from the National Guard. Let us say. out of the 22.000 National Guardsmen and women. we tap 4.000 for this duty. Assuming an 8hour day. this would be a total of 480.000 hours. the equivalent of 240 fulltime Border Patrol guards. Mr. President. people who Join the National Guard are trained every weekend. and they give 15. days of service a year. Therefore. we can tap them and increase the Border Patrol to the level of about 240 fulltime officers. They would be fully trained and equipped. In closing.
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