Letter to Barack Obama, President of the United States - Deploying National Guard To Southern Border

Letter

U.S. Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ) today sent a letter to President Obama calling on him to immediately deploy the National Guard to our southern border.

The Senators wrote:

"When President Felipe Calderón visits the White House on Wednesday, he will likely share with you the grim details of his valiant fight against the powerful Mexican drug cartels. At least 22,000 Mexican citizens have been killed since 2006 due to the violent activities of the cartels.

"It is not just the citizens of Mexico who fear for their safety. The violence has crossed the border and escalated to a point where many Arizonans do not feel safe within their own homes or on their own property. They feel that they live in a lawless area of the country and have been abandoned by the federal government, which has a duty to protect its citizens by securing the nation's borders. The violence along the border has greatly escalated since President Bush deployed the National Guard to the border in 2006 and has now taken the lives of innocent Americans.

"The governors of Arizona and Texas have requested the deployment of the National Guard, and the governor of New Mexico has deployed his state's National Guard to the border. We again urge you to deploy at least 6,000 National Guardsmen to protect our southern border, with 3,000 of these troops focused on the Arizona/Mexico border.

"We believe this would immediately improve the safety of Americans and help secure our border. As we have detailed to your administration over the last month, we also strongly urge you to work with us to provide funding for our 10-point plan to secure the Arizona-Mexico border. It would be irresponsible not to do everything we can to stop the escalating violence along the border with Mexico."

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