Napolitano urges halt to Guard border cuts

Gov. Janet Napolitano urged federal officials to halt the drawdown of the National Guard's deployment along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The troop reductions started July 1 and are scheduled to be completed Sept. 1, cutting the number of troops deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border from as far away as Maine and North Dakota to 3,000 from 6,000.

Federal officials have said they could reduce the number of National Guard troops because the Border Patrol is adding more agents, but Napolitano said the drawdown should be halted so authorities can fight human smuggling and other illegal activity.

However, Napolitano said in a letter to the secretaries of the Homeland Security and Defense departments that there's been a steady increase in apprehensions of illegal immigrations in the Border Patrol's Tucson sector since April.

"Arizona remains a problematic border in the Southwest region and the long-planned drawdown in personnel and patrol is premature," Napolitano said in the letter, which was dated Wednesday and released by her office on Friday.

But a Homeland Security spokesman said that the troops being withdrawn do mostly basic duties such as administrative support or maintenance work and are being replaced.

More than $40 million has been set aside to hire new civilian personnel that will do their jobs, said Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke.