The U.S. Border Patrol plans to begin deploying more than 500 additional Border Patrol agents along the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona just as a group of volunteers, known as the Minuteman Project, begins monitoring for illegal aliens along the same stretch of border. About 155 veteran agents will be sent to Arizona immediately on permanent assignment. They will be followed by another 200 veterans to be placed on temporary assignment in Arizona later this spring and summer.
Some time this year about 370 newly trained Border Patrol agents will be assigned to Arizona to replace the 200 veterans on temporary assignment. These new agents will be added to the Border Patrol over and above the 210 new agents President Bush requested in his fiscal 2006 budget. These combined Border Patrol additions, however, still fall far short of the 2,000 new Border Patrol agents for next year (and 10,000 over five years) authorized in the 9/11 Commission law President Bush signed in December.
