Troops Move South
Obama – Schwarzenegger Order Guardsmen to the U.S.-Mexican Border
by Ron Alexander Ph.D.
MAJ CA SMR (Ret)
U.S. Consular, Rancher murdered; Bomb tossed at U. S. Consulate; Car bomb in Ciudad Juárez
On 25 May 2010, the President of the United States, Barack Obama, ordered an additional 1,200 National Guardsmen to the southern border to arrest the movement of persons and materials into the United States. Current pundits said his actions reflected the politics of immigration. On the other hand, the ongoing destabilizing effects of Mexico’s internal violence and its lowered economic expectations, combined with U.S. attitudes, drive the choices of both sides. Even under these isolating factors, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has continued to reiterate the need for comprehensive immigration reform.
Consequently, on 16 JUL 2010, Governor Schwarzenegger signed General Order Number 2010-01 “directing the California National Guard to temporarily support federal efforts to secure the U.S.-Mexico border.” In the governor’s message to the Office of the Adjutant General (OTAG):
| “Pursuant to Sections 146 and 365 of the California Military and Veterans Code, I am ordering you to call into Active Service such forces of the active militia that are needed to respond to this request. You shall use volunteers to the maximum extent practicable. Any approved use of weapons shall be consistent with the California Military Department’s published rules for the use of force. To the extent that military weapons may be required, the military personnel shall deploy with issued military weapons.” |
Air Force Gen. Craig McKinley, the Chief of the National Guard Bureau, outlined the current mission at a press conference at the Pentagon on 19 JUL 2010. The Guardsmen, all under volunteer status, will deploy in four different states. The following states will receive an increase in staffing: Arizona (524), Texas (250), California (224), and New Mexico (72).
In June 2006, during “Operation Jump Start”, President George W. Bush directed the deployment of 6,000 troops to the border, where they remained until July 2008. The estimated duration for the current deployment may extend beyond 11 OCT 2011. That date marks the input of all troops who have received the necessary training required for interagency support roles.
Alan Bersin, commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, stated that the 1,200 troops will support the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Agency and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities. Tasks for Guard members will range from entry identification teams with CBP to criminal investigative analysts with ICE. Decreasing the number of persons who cross the border and get exposed to the unending, hot desert climate. Since 2001, when records for cross-border fatalities opened, more than 1,750 persons have died due to exposure while crossing the border from Mexico.
With more boots on the ground, the interdiction of persons, the reduction in the flow of illegal bulk currency, and the seizure of weapons transported from the United States into Mexico will enhance the Office of Homeland Security (OHS) objectives.
Guard members will not directly arrest persons or engage in enforcement activities. This mission will have a “tech-oriented” component. From strategic observation points, Guard members will monitor the border using state-of-the-art surveillance and detection tactics, as well as advanced communications technology, for one year. The units have a scheduled completion date of 30 JUN 2011. Questions to consider for CSMR units: How will this deployment impact CSMR policies and missions? Will we see an upgrade in SMR readiness?
On the other hand, assigning a global reason to the motivations of individuals who attempt to navigate across a desert into the United States can play into the vacuum of “false information.” The interests of many Mexicans and other nationals have evolved in response to their historical dilemma. One reason for this reality occurred nearly one hundred years ago, and we know it today as the Mexican Revolution. That upheaval began 20 NOV 1910.
The upheaval killed from one million to a higher estimate of more than two million Mexicans. In a profile of Mexico in 1910, the population sat at 15,160,369. In 1921, that profile indicated a decrease in population to 14,334,780. During that horrendous period, 110,000 Guardsmen throughout the United States participated in border operations. Despite not crossing the border, their presence met national planning priorities.
Cause and Effect: The Mexican Revolution and the National Guard
Mexicans and other nationals will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution this fall. A brief explanation of specific episodes that affected the United States, along with the reasons for establishing the National Guard during those years, follows.
In 1910, shortly after President Porfirio Díaz ordered his political opponent, Francisco Madero, jailed, Madero escaped to San Antonio, Texas. His attempt to rally the Mexican population came in the form of a letter sent to a publisher in the city of San Luis Potosí. The message called for general hostilities to begin on 20 NOV 1910. Pascual Orozco, with Pancho Villa, defeated Diaz’s army in the battle for Ciudad Juárez, directly south of El Paso, Texas. Caution increased, so misplaced canon fire did not strike the U.S.
The war brought great power rivalries into the spotlight of international analysis. The United Kingdom, France, and Germany had interests to secure. Following the demise of Diaz, Victoriano Huerta overthrew President Madero in 1913 and took power in Mexico City. This strategic sense forced the United States to blockade and capture the port of Veracruz. In secret, Remington Arms, a United States manufacturer, had sent weapons to Huerta via Germany to avoid an embargo.
On the other hand, embargoes did not prevent the complete restriction of foreign weapons from entering Mexico, as when President Venustiano Carranza bought arms from Japan. (These events led to the making of 1917, “Patria.” In this anti-Japanese-Mexican film, it stereotyped actual World War I allies as potential thieves, hunting for wealth.)
President Woodrow Wilson launched a second sortie into Mexico to oppose Pancho Villa and his army. Villa’s raid into Columbus, New Mexico, on 9 MAR 1916 killed eighteen U.S. citizens and caused extensive loss of property. Villa’s reason for the attack centered on his forces receiving faulty ammunition and delinquent arms sales from a weapons dealer. Wilson ordered General John J. Pershing to spearhead an Expeditionary Force into Northern Mexico. This expedition lasted nearly 300 days before concluding in February 1917.
Several other events continued to occur, with one incident in Nogales, Arizona. It centered on the possible attack by Mexican troops who had received training from German agents. The effort took place in August 1918. As reported, a Mexican dressed in civilian attire moving toward the border from the United States had failed to stop when told by a U.S. Customs Agent. The pursuit broadened into an assault upon several hilltops on the Mexican side of the border. Within 3 hours and 35 minutes, the fiercest engagement between military forces during the Mexican Revolution occurred.
The essential consequence of the Mexican Revolution was the establishment of the National Guard. With the passage of the National Defense Act on 3 JUN 1916, NG units throughout the United States received orders to serve along the U.S. southern border. The NDA transformed all state militias into an active force supervised by the regular Army. Each state militia unit had to conform to the purposes of the regular Army as a reserve component. Now, units had to train and deploy under the term “National Guard.” Although restrictions prevented the guard from entering Mexico, their service there helped project America’s armed forces as they deployed to Europe during World War I.
In other ways, resourceful and competitive neighbors overcome prejudices and anger to form collaborative functions. Currently, Landon Donovan, captain of the American soccer team, appears in a commercial sponsored by Mexico promoting the benefits of the Mexican lottery. In a relatively isolated area, Donovan, dressed in a traditional Mexican sombrero and poncho, tries to sneak across the border into Mexico! Stopped by a Mexican border guard, he displays a “Gana Gol” punch card, used to select winners in sports contests.
Following Lessons Learned:
Since the Bush-Obama administrations, President Donald Trump has stepped into a different set of puzzles. His deliberations with his advisors and congressional supporters have raised questions about his knowledge of foreign affairs and Constitutional allowances for presidential authority. Engineering a wall along thousands of miles of land will not work, and in his conscious state, telling that Mexico will pay for it only presents a weakened display of statesmanship. Bush’s Operation Jump Start and Obama’s Operation Phalanx had some success in assisting the Customs and Border Protection agents in arresting 204,701persons coming in illegally. Their deployment also assisted in the seizure of 372,706 pounds of marijuana.
Unfortunately, it cost the United States nearly $1.35 billion. Moreover, the constraints, based on the Rules of Engagement (ROE), required movement by guardsmen to occur in pairs. Patrolling by a Border agent only required one officer. Most importantly, a guardsman had to contact a CBP officer, wait for them to arrive, and only then could they retain a suspect. It powers the creed, “If you see something, say something!”
The reason for this legal hesitation rests on whether National Guardsmen deploy under Title 32 authority, whereby the Federal Government controls payment for training and other assets. The information that guardsmen have received means they will continue performing within the same ROE as under Operations Jump Start and Phalanx. Guardsmen support CBP agents. Still, the Government Accounting Office remained strict on its prior statement that productivity remained “inefficient.” Soldiers did not have any highly valued training to assist CBP staff in the field, nor did CBP personnel prepare or execute measures, such as training lanes, to represent security.
On 05 APR 2018, the Pentagon spokesperson stated that a new “Cell” operating in the Pentagon will serve as a conduit for information and coordination. “The cell will focus on supporting CBP’s priorities based on missions and threats, which will determine the timeframe and number of military personnel employed.” Trying to constrain Trump’s views regarding the use of military assets polarizes the State Department’s priorities. The militarization of the border yields nothing and burdens relations with Mexico.
The interesting aspect, in comparison with the earlier Guard status, the middle period, and the present period, centers on the status of jurisdictional authority. During the 2010 deployments, the governors remained in command of their state forces. Also, their ROE did not entail the use of the Posse Comitatus Act (PCA). Now, under the persuasive anomalies set up under Trump’s ruler in hand, if an indication of a possible spark of discontent in the behavior of residents, whether following legal precedents or not, his determination to avoid Democratic party governors allows for a political shunt to re-establish an unnecessary deployment of military assets, seeking legalization with movement authorization from the courts. That means the Insurrection Act benefits any statutory compliance if modeled by the federal side, giving police powers to military units.
Findings:
Based on historical evidence, legal precedents, and scientific frameworks associated with successful behavior, we need a more informed and robust legislature, as well as a judiciary with a deeper understanding of practical compacts, one that listens to and validates the professionalism of elected officials and avoids conscious thought of making propaganda.
1. The Department of Defense and Continuity of Civil Operations
1.1 The Title 10 Federal status and Title 32 State status abound with right and wrong data schedules. What works, what doesn’t work. Having more than 4,000 Guardsmen securing buildings and ensuring the safety of Federal Law Enforcement Agents in their pursuit of suspected criminals and undocumented persons, while simultaneously deploying U.S. Marine Corps assets from Camp Pendleton, may reinforce DOD capabilities and capacities, but diminish long-term effectiveness.
1.2 Whether military forces have responded within their legal status and mission requirements tells the story. If actions by NG forces and Marines do not have PCA authority, with the possible exception of drug enforcement operations, the scale of intrusion on Title 32 increases.
1.3 Outside of building relationships with law enforcement agencies, eventually, the answer to this puzzle ensures the hiring of more federal agents.
–
2. The rush to politicize posse comitatus effects
2.1 Within the past six years, the Secretary of Homeland Security, then South Dakota Governor Kristi Allen Noem, had tried unsuccessfully to install “riot boosting” legislation to stop demonstrations against the Keystone XL pipeline. It failed in court.
2.2 Moreover, on 21 JUN 2021, her opportunity to deploy the South Dakota National Guard to the U.S. southern land border, while using donated money, the Center for Public Integrity sued both the S.D. NG and the Department of Defense. Texas Governor Gregg Abbott had requested this assistance.
2.3 To safeguard the Constitution and prevent mercenary connections, in 2021, the National Defense Authorization Act “prohibits a member of the National Guard from crossing another state’s border to perform duties paid for with private funds.”
2.3.1 This act strengthened anti-money laundering and countered the financing of terrorism.
2.4 California’s Governor Gavin Newsom did not authorize the release by the OTAG of National Guardsmen based on the requirements of civil unrest. Federalization exempted the governor’s authority based on state status, relieving his office of control over funding and training. Losing Title 32 status at the original time of Title 10 status prevented the governor from having any control over the National Guard forces.
–
3. States’ Rights and the Tenth Amendment
3.1 California’s rights under the 10th Amendment to control the deployment of its National Guardsmen should receive a more genuine preferential consideration based on its probable cause historic deployment.
3.2 California’s situational awareness and mission lines of efforts connect directly with its large population, geographical location, the factors of climate fatigue, gradient winds, the nature of its abundant vegetation, and the consistent threat of wildfires concerning protective measures by OTAG, conservation of substrates of H20 and other water resources.
3.3 Limits to DOD capabilities diminish when mission configurations and operational parameters limit the use of joint assets. If so, California has similar and at times more sustainable factors, which the governor understands, including cross-border illegal activity.
–
4. Incident with Senator Alex Padilla and CA State Attorney General oversight
4.1 Although deployed California National Guardsmen and U.S. Marine Corps forces deployed to Los Angeles to assist Federal Agent operations and guard infrastructure, an assault occurred within the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, located at 255 E Temple St, Los Angeles, CA 90012.
4.2 U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-California) was forcibly removed from a press conference held by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Los Angeles on 12 JUN 2025.
4.3 Senator Padilla’s chance to ask Ms. Noem a question descended into a violent assault upon him, committed by federal officers, under color of authority, in the “unlawful taking and movement of his person against his will, using force and fear,” indicating a specific intent that the law prohibits, breaking California’s Penal Code 207(b), 209(a), 236, a behavior of purpose reflected in protection operations and not a hypothetical construct.
4.4 Any solutions to this incident must receive legal review by the office of the State’s Attorney General as a result of President Trump’s and SDHS Noem’s efforts to curtail Governor Newsom’s governmental responsibilities.
Composed initially on 6th day, 06 JAN 2012 20:51
Extended copy finished on 1st day, 10 AUG 2025 21:36
###