Operation Jump Start

A member of the National Guard on the border near Nogales

Operation Jump Start ( roughly in English : "Company Start Aid") refers to the relocation of 6,000 soldiers of the US National Guard to the US-Mexico border . The mission was to secure the extension of the border fence between the two countries, ratified by the Senate in May 2006 , and to make the parts of the border that were not yet secured by the system impassable for illegal immigration . The terms of use were negotiated between the Department of Defense and the governors of Arizona , California , New Mexico and Texas . Legal concerns arose from a possible confusion of police and military duties ( Posse Comitatus Act ) as well as federal and national competencies.

The National Guards are to be deployed at the border until the United States Border Patrol has doubled the number of its officers to 18,000 men.

Web links

Commons : Operation Jump Start  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Press release of the White House ( Engl. )

• Message from the Department of Defense dated June 6, 2006 ( Memento of June 8, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
• Report of the BBC on the subject (Engl.)
• Further information on the blog KQED ( Memento from August 22, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
• (AP): Bush clears the way for the construction of the border fence to Mexico ( memento of September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) , Neue Zürcher Zeitung , October 5, 2006
• (AFP / AP): Bush clears the way for the construction of a border fence with Mexico , Süddeutsche Zeitung , October 5, 2006