Who will pay to send National Guard to border?

WASHINGTON — It’s no longer a question of whether additional National Guard troops will be sent to the nation’s southwest border to help combat drug trafficking, arms smuggling and southbound shipments of drug cash.

It’s only a question of when — and who pays for it, Uncle Sam or the taxpayers of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.

The Obama administration and the governors of the border states are wrangling over prospective duties for the 1,500 additional citizen soldiers requested by the four states to augment local law enforcement along the 1,947-mile frontier with Mexico.

Those talks have serious financial consequences. Defining the duties, in effect, will determine who foots the bill.

"These discussions are all preliminary and preparatory to a decision being made at the White House," newly appointed border czar Alan Bersin said Friday. "It’s a matter that’s being monitored, and I think in due course there will be a decision that will respond to the facts on the ground and the circumstances that we confront."

The four states have 577 National Guard troops on active duty at federal expense. Texas has 204 of them, a total Texas Gov. Rick Perry wants to boost by 1,000.

"I sense there’s a bit of reluctance on the part of the administration to do it," said U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security. "It may boil down to whether the states individually can pay for it or not."

An Obama administration official, reflecting White House caution, emphasized that the governors can summon National Guard troops to active duty at any time at state expense.

"The troops need to have a defined federal role to serve on active duty at federal expense," the official said. "We need governors to define the mission."

The jockeying has intensified since mid-March when President Barack Obama said he was "going to examine whether and if National Guard deployments would make sense and under what circumstances."

The White House Office of Management and Budget has set aside up to $350 million in "contingency" funds to underwrite potential deployments of National Guard troops.

But whether that money is used depends entirely on the outcome of federal-state negotiations over the role the additional National Guard troops will play.

The negotiations have been going on almost since the moment Perry asked Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano for more troops on Jan. 23, three days after Obama’s inauguration. The Republican governor provided a detailed deployment plan on April 4 in response to administration questions about the troops’ role.

The Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security continue to conduct "initial assessment and planning" for deploying more National Guard troops in response to governors’ requests, explained Army Capt. Jamie Davis, spokesman for National Guard headquarters. "But the National Guard has not been tasked at this time with any additional mission support for the southwest border."

Border governors had been banking as well on a potential ally in the new homeland security chief. As governor of Arizona, Napolitano had helped persuade President George W. Bush to deploy up to 6,000 National Guard troops along the border for two years to augment border security in Operation Jump Start.

Most of the requested National Guard personnel will provide local law enforcement agencies criminal analysis support and surveillance assistance, often by National Guard helicopters.

That kind of backup contributed to more than 68,000 arrests, almost $29 billion worth of drug seizures and $226 million in cash seizures nationwide last year.

"Expanding the counter-drug program provides a good opportunity to minimize perceptions (in Mexico) that anyone is militarizing the border," the four border state governors, including Perry and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, told congressional leaders in late April.

The additional National Guard troops could push the annual cost of the nationwide program from $286 million to more than $400 million. With that kind of tab, lawmakers such as McCaul are urging the Obama administration to step forward.

"It’s a little unfair for border states to bear the cost," said McCaul, a former federal prosecutor, who has proposed providing $500 million a year in federal spending to bolster state and local law enforcement.

Perry is asking Texas’ lawmakers for $135 million to continue Operation Border Star, the state-financed campaign against trans-national gangs.

"Texas is taking the steps it can to ensure we protect our citizens," Perry spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger said. "It is not unreasonable to ask and expect the federal government to fulfill its role."