Talk Radio News Service: News, Politics, Media

By Sofia Sanchez University of New Mexico/ Talk Radio News Service

Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) outlined Wednesday the details of a letter recently sent to President Barack Obama calling for the deployment of National Guard Troops along the U.S.-Mexico border to assist both local law enforcement and border patrol agents.

“Our local border patrol agents and local Sheriffs on the border are out manned, out-gunned and out-financed by the drug cartels who wish to come into the United States,” Poe said during a morning press conference.

According to Poe, the letter was prompted by the murder of Arizona rancher Robert Krentz, which was believed to have been carried out by illegal immigrants. The murder was also a key factor in the rise of Arizona's controversial new immigration law, which allows law enforcement official to ask individuals suspected of immigrating illegally for proof of citizenship.

The request for the National Guard's presence at the border was first proposed by governors of many southwestern states.

Poe added that attacks on the border patrol in the Tucson sector have increased by 200 percent in the first two months of this year and that the jails in southern Texas are packed with immigrants.

“37 percent of [prisoners] in southern Texas are foreign nationals both in the United States legally and illegally... they are not charged with immigration violations, they are charged with crimes,” said Poe.

Poe claimed that this issue is not an immigration issue, but a border safety issue.

“This country protects the borders of other nations better then it protects our own border,” said Poe.