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Analysis

Documents used to formulate the legal structure of Operation Jump Start should be kept secret, argues the Texas Attorney General’s Office (OAG), because the mission involves “law enforcement” and “anti-terrorism” activities that could be compromised by too much transparency.

But if law enforcement is so crucial to the National Guard operation, doesn’t legal authority for the mission reside with Congress?
The OAG makes strong claims about the law enforcement and anti-terrorism mission of Operation Jump Start in a June 30 memo that seeks to keep legal planning documents secret.

“More specifically,” says the June 30 memo from the OAG office of public information (PIO), “the release of such information would interfere with law enforcement because such information could be used by those trying to enter the United States illegally to devise methods to avoid capture or escalate the use of force continuum to their advantage.”

Since Operation Jump Start is “also meant to prevent acts of terrorism in the United States,” release of public information about the mission “would be available to such terrorists who could then use the information to more easily gain entry to the United States” says the memo.

On June 8, the Texas Civil Rights Review requested documents that would “indicate the earliest requests for involvement of the Texas Attorney General’s Office in the operation that has come to be known as Operation Jump Start”.

In answering the public information request, the OAG did not return samples of “requests for invovlement.” Instead, the Public Information Office (PIO) assembled a file of work produced by the the OAG in response to those “requests.” The PIO now seeks to keep those work products secret.

Although the Texas Civil Rights Review did not ask for work products in the first place, reasons for keeping them secret state that “law enforcement” and “anti-terrorism” are foundational to the legal purpose for Operation Jump Start. This is significant since the Posse Comitatus act requires that Congress approve any use of the National Guard for federal law enforcement purposes.

“It is clear that the submitted information is maintained for the purpose of preventing an act of terrorism and that it pertains to the staffing requirements and tactical plans for the enhancement of border security.”

In addition to law-enforcement and anti-terrorism concerns, the June 30 memo argues that the OAG enjoys attorney-client privilege with the Texas National Guard (whose commander-in-chief is the Governor). And the “deliberative process” that the OAG goes through while formulating legal advice for the Guard is protected from public disclosure, including notes taken “for the purpose of interpreting the law.”

“While some of the submitted information may be factual in nature, the information at issue here does not constitute a ‘neutral recital’ of facts,” argues the PIO. “Because the facts have been selected by attorneys and staff of the OAG and/or its clients, and ordered for the purpose of interpreting the law, such recitations and compilations are non-neutral, rather than purely factual or basically factual, summaries or communications.”

Disclosing such selections of facts would, reveal “mental impressions”, hinder the “core function” of the OAG, and “rob the OAG of the ability to protect such internal documents.”

Furthermore, says the PIO, since the documents include information regarding use of force guidelines, arming orders, and weapons limitations: “The Texas National Guard advises that the release of such information would interfere with their law enforcement efforts along the US-Mexico border, and has requested that such information be withheld from disclosure.”

The Attorney General’s Open Records Division will review the memo and determine whether to release the documents. Meanwhile, the Texas Civil Rights Review plans to renew a request for documents that would help to establish a timeline for the operation’s legal planning.

Regular visitors will know that we usually don’t do this much archiving. But this report from the Sac Bee is the best we’ve seen about the Imperial Beach hearings–gm

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Terror talk on southern border
GOP-led hearing links illegal immigration, dire risk scenarios.

By Peter Hecht — Bee Capitol Bureau

Published 12:01 am PDT Thursday, July 6, 2006

Story appeared on Page A1 of The Bee

IMPERIAL BEACH — A House subcommittee opened the first of a series of politically charged hearings on border protection Wednesday by seeking to link illegal immigration and a porous southern border to the threat of international terrorism. Few potentially grim scenarios were left unmentioned as a Republican-led subcommittee probing “border vulnerabilities and international terrorism” held a hearing at the U.S. Border Patrol headquarters just north of the California-Mexico border.

The Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Nonproliferation, headed by U.S. Rep. Ed Royce, R-Fullerton, is one of several House panels seeking to build public support for a tough House immigration bill that would increase border security and criminalize illegal immigration.

Democrats have derided the hearings as one-sided shams designed to whip up anti-immigrant sentiment rather than seek workable legislation.

While opposing legislation supported by President Bush in the U.S. Senate to create a guest worker program and a path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants, Royce on Wednesday issued a warning that stopping illegal border crossings is directly linked to the U.S. war on terrorism.

With anti-illegal-immigrant activists outside the meeting waving flags and wearing shirts reading “Don’t Tread on Me” and “Deport All Illegal Immigrants,” Royce said his subcommittee wanted to assess “the threat of international terrorism and scrutinize our nation’s response.”

“Drug cartels, smuggling rings and gangs operating on both the Mexico and U.S. sides are increasingly well-equipped and more brazen than ever,” Royce said. “… Some border areas can be accurately described as war zones. These border vulnerabilities are opportunities for terrorists.”

Royce said U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials reported that “al-Qaida has considered crossing our southwest border” and “it may have already happened.”

But he was criticized for grandstanding by U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks.

Sherman said the subcommittee’s bid to equate terrorism to illegal immigration from Mexico was a tool to hype the criminal sanctions the House immigration bill seeks to impose on people illegally crossing the border in search of work.

“The terrorist threat is greater on the Canadian border, where we have one-twentieth of the coverage (in Border Patrol agents), than on the southern border,” Sherman said. He noted that while al-Qaida suspects have been apprehended entering the United States from Canada, there has been no confirmation of any known terrorist entering from Mexico.

Another Democratic member of the subcommittee, Rep. Bob Filner, D-San Diego, said the hearing was a “charade” and a “cover-up” for the Republican Congress’ failure to pass meaningful immigration legislation.

House Republicans are stridently focusing on enforcement remedies — including constructing a 700-mile fence on the Mexican border — to combat illegal immigration.

But Republicans in the Senate are advocating a guest worker plan for 1.5 million farm workers and additional protections that could lead to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

On Wednesday, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., held a hearing in Philadelphia on a need for foreign workers.

And New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg told the gathering that his city’s economy — and the country’s — would collapse if America’s estimated 12 million illegal immigrants are deported.

“No wall or army can stop hundreds of thousands of people each year,” Bloomberg said.

Witnesses called to testify in Imperial Beach on Wednesday included U.S. Border Patrol officials and Border Patrol supporters, along with law enforcement administrators and security specialists.

Citizens opposing temporary worker programs or amnesty dominated the audience, cheering loudly when speakers advocated strong anti-illegal-immigration measures. No immigrant advocates were invited to testify.

A few hundred yards outside the gates of the Border Patrol station, several church ministers and advocates supporting a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants protested the hearing.

“I believe when members of Congress call a public hearing, the public should be invited and not excluded,” said the Rev. Art Cribbs, pastor of the Christian Fellowship United Church of Christ in San Diego. “It’s mockery of democracy.”

Inside the hearing room, Gregory Kutz, a special investigator for the Government Accountability Office, said security procedures failed in two tests last year. Investigators, crossing U.S. borders from Canada and Mexico, went undetected as they smuggled in radioactive material similar to what could be used in a “dirty bomb.”

U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach, said the resources needed to combat illegal immigration are severely straining the Border Patrol, immigration and U.S. Customs agents.

He argued that the United States must aggressively deny employment and public services to illegal immigrants if border authorities are to have resources available to combat terrorism.

“Unless we have an overall policy to cut off jobs and benefits (to illegal immigrants), we can’t do our job and stop this invasion of the United States,” he said.

Witness Rick Flores, a border-region sheriff from Webb County, Texas, supported those sentiments. Flores said his officers witnessed incursions by Mexican soldiers protecting alleged drug shipments.

“Our southern border is ripe for a terrorist pipeline,” Flores said.

Darryl Griffen, chief patrol agent for the San Diego sector of the U.S. Border Patrol, testified that out of 108,000 people apprehended crossing in the San Diego border sector this year, all but about 1,000 were from Mexico. He said 47 other people apprehended and questioned were from “special interest” countries that are considered risks for terrorism.

U.S. Rep. Brian Bilbray, a Republican representing Carlsbad in northern San Diego County, asked what Griffen and the Border Patrol were doing to protect his local Home Depot store from dozens of illegal immigrants harassing shoppers for work.

“Chief, in my neighborhood, the Home Depot is an ‘illegal hub,’ ” said Bilbray, whose victory in a race for a House seat last month was fueled by voter anger over illegal immigration. “Is it too much to ask to have a few agents go to a place known to be frequented by illegal aliens?”

Bilbray was interrupted by Sherman.

“Our subcommittee focuses on terrorism,” the Democratic congressman told him. “I don’t think there are many terrorists at Home Depot.”

HomeTownSource.Com

Posted: 7/6/06
Minnesota National Guard troops to be deployed to New Mexico to assist in safeguarding U.S.-Mexican border

by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter

Minnesota National Guard troops will be deployed to New Mexico within several weeks to assist in safeguarding the U.S.-Mexican border. “I’m very comfortable with it,” said Gov. Tim Pawlenty of sending a contingent of the Guard.

The deployment is in response to a request for troops by the U.S. Department of Defense and Homeland Security for “Operation Jump Start.”

On a volunteer basis, National Guard troops will be deployed to New Mexico for up to six months — Minnesota troops could serve as additional eyes, scanning the border from high ground with binoculars, explained Minnesota National Guard Adjutant General Larry Shellito explained on Wednesday (July 5) at a Capitol press conference.

They could provide engineering, logistical services, he pointed out. The troops will not be engaged in actual hands-on law enforcement, Shellito explained.

Some 200 Minnesota Army and Air Guard troops have volunteered for duty along the border. Other troops in rotation could be deployed.

Besides the volunteers, guard troops that otherwise are scheduled for training will be used in the southern border deployment.

According to the administration, 10 other states — including neighboring Wisconsin — already have agreed to participate in the operation and have begun sending troops.

The troops are to assist in border security for up to two years while the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency hires and trains thousands of new agents.

The federal government will pick up the cost of the troop deployments.

With about 10,000 Army and Air National Guard troops still in Minnesota, Pawlenty believes there’s enough available to handle emergencies.

About 3,000 Minnesota troops are deployed in the Iraq War.

The governor depicted the level of security existing along the U.S.-Mexican border at crisis level. “It has been for years,” he said.

Pawlenty will keep command of the Minnesota troops being deployed to New Mexico.

According to the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. border patrol is expected to double in size to about 18,000 agents within two years.

Mid-Hudson News
July 6, 2006

New York National Guard to send contingent to Southwest border security mission

The New York National Guard is sending a composite company of infantry soldiers this weekend to Arizona to join with hundreds of National Guard troops from other states as part of Operation Jump Start. Included in that contingent will be members of the “Fighting 69th” from Camp Smith in Cortlandt Manor.

Approximately 150 members of the 2nd Battalion, 108th Infantry will depart this Saturday from Fort Drum to begin a 15 day annual training period in Arizona to support the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to help prevent and deter illegal immigration through the Southwest border states.

A composite infantry company under the command of Company A, based in Geneseo, has been formed by assigning platoons and teams from each of the battalion’s subordinate companies across upstate New York and from other units of the New York National Guard. Troops assigned to units at 12 different armories from across the state are assigned to this mission.

Medical and administrative staff from the Utica and Rome armories have been assigned to this team, while infantry troops are coming from Batavia, Morrisonville, Ogdensburg, Saranac lake, Gloversville, Hoosick Falls, and Ithaca. Vehicle drivers from the 427th Support Battalion are coming from the Schenectady armory and additional medics are being assigned to the unit from Company C, 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry, the “Fighting 69th” from Camp Smith, Cortlandt Manor.

Volunteers from Virginia Army National Guard preparing to help control border

Published 07/06/2006
By STEPHEN IGO -Kingsport Times-News

Spec. Michael Nataro, with the Virginia Army National Guard’s 189th Engineering Company and a student at Mountain Empire Community College, intends to keep up with coursework even after he is deployed to the Southwest United States. Stephen Igo photo. BIG STONE GAP – About a dozen members of the Virginia Army National Guard’s 189th Engineering Company’s Detachment 1 based in Big Stone Gap were preparing Wednesday for eventual deployment to the Southwestern United States to help control the border with Mexico.

Last week, the Virginia National Guard asked for citizen soldier volunteers from Virginia’s ranks to be part of the nation’s efforts to stem the flow of illegal immigrants from Mexico and Central and South Americas, a move recommended by President George W. Bush and provided recent approval by Congress.

Last Friday, Maj. Gen. Robert B. Newman Jr., the adjutant general of Virginia, announced that about 350 soldiers and airmen from Virginia volunteered to serve on Virginia’s task force to support U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Arizona, dubbed Operation Jump Start. Home units of the Virginia volunteers were announced Wednesday.

Col. Robert Simpson, director of the Virginia National Guard joint staff, said Virginia’s volunteers will initially travel from their home units to Fort Pickett for preliminary deployment processing to Arizona. On Wednesday, units like Detachment 1 conducted what Master Sgt. Randy Tiller, a public affairs NCO for the Guard’s 1030th Transportation Battalion, referred to as a “showdown inspection” to make sure area volunteers have all their basic clothing and equipment issue before leaving for Fort Pickett.

On Wednesday morning, Tiller said no firm date was yet scheduled for volunteers to head for Fort Pickett but indicated they might leave as early as Friday. More volunteers for border duty from area National Guard units stand a good chance to be called on later for their willingness to volunteer and deploy later this month, Tiller said.

“Right now, supposedly we’ve got basically, probably, two deployments. This initial group is getting ready to go shortly. We have no firm date when that will be. They are at the armory today going through an inspection of clothing and basic personal gear, something we call a ‘showdown inspection,’” Tiller said. “Then, at a later date, we expect another deployment. The 189th got several volunteers who couldn’t go initially but expressed their desire to go with the second group.”

After last year’s reorganization of the Virginia National Guard, Big Stone Gap’s 189th Engineering Company, a rolling bridge unit, was designated Detachment 1 of the main body of the 189th that is now based in Bowling Green. The Big Stone Gap unit and the 189th are part of the 276th Engineering Battalion out of Richmond.

Volunteers from other area National Guard units are also in the initial volunteer deployment. Tiller said four or five volunteers are with the HHD (Headquarters, Headquarters Detachment) and/or the 1032nd Transportation Company based in Gate City, and another unit in Richlands is also sending four or five volunteers to Fort Pickett.

At least three female members of Detachment 1 may be included with the initial group of volunteers out of Big Stone Gap. One, Spc. 1 Shannon Gallo of Duffield, had her orders in hand on Wednesday morning. Another, Pfc. Selina Jessee of Wise, expected to receive her orders by Wednesday afternoon. The third, Spc. 1 Jessica Jessee of Duffield, was hoping her enthusiasm to volunteer would convince officials in Richmond to issue her orders before the group heads for Fort Pickett.

Selina Jessee and Jessica Jessee are not related but share a maternal bond as sisters-in-arms. Selina Jessee has four children ranging in age from 5 to 14, and Jessica Jessee has a 5-year-old and a 2-year-old. Fathers and other family members will help care for their children during their deployment, they said.

Another wrinkle for Selina Jessee is that she is fresh out of boot camp and scarcely integrated into Detachment 1. Still, this brand-new soldier promptly volunteered for a genuine Army assignment to, if not precisely a hostile environment, certainly an active-duty one for a national purpose.

“Well, it was an opportunity to serve my country and finally be able to do something I’ve really always wanted to do all my life,” she said after maneuvering a bus-size military vehicle into a tight spot at the Big Stone Gap armory on Wednesday. “The military suits me very well. (During boot camp) I just wished I could have gone back and done it when I was 18.”

When Virginia’s 350 or so volunteer soldiers and airmen arrive in Arizona, they will receive an orientation and specific mission training from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Service. Simpson said all volunteers have the basic skills needed to successfully accomplish their mission.

Lt. Col. Thomas Morgan, Virginia Army National Guard director of military support, said Friday a phased deployment of volunteers by July 15 and July 25 has been initially planned with all volunteers expected to be in Arizona by July 30.

Tiller said the 189th’s Detachment 1 bunch out of Big Stone Gap couldn’t have better morale even if ordered to get better morale by the president.

“They are volunteers. We just called individual unit members to see if they would be interested. It’s not like a mandatory or ordered mission, so they have a real good attitude,” he said.

The Virginia National Guard has about 475 soldiers and airmen deployed overseas in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, with another 488 soldiers preparing to deploy in support of the NATO Kosovo Force, or KFOR, mission in the Balkans.