Obama to Send 1,200 Guard Troops to Mexico Border

[Jeff Dunsavage]

The New York Times reports that President Obama will send up to 1,200 National Guard troops to the Southwest border and increase spending on law enforcement, yielding to demands from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers there that border security be tightened. Calls to send troops to the border mounted after the shooting death of a rancher in southern Arizona on March 27; the police suspect the rancher was killed by someone involved in smuggling.

Representative Gabrielle Giffords, a Democrat from southern Arizona, praised the decision.

“The White House is doing the right thing,” she said in a statement announcing the move. “Arizonans know that more boots on the ground means a safer and more secure border. Washington heard our message.”