Schwarzenegger tells Bush to keep National Guard at the border

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has called on President Bush to extend the assignment of California National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border. Officials have credited the Guard troops with helping to reduce illegal immigration through the border with Mexico.

In 2006, Bush ordered 6,000 troops to the border. The temporary deployment was supposed to help bolster the Border Patrol's ranks while the agency hired 6,000 additional agents. But only half that many have been hired, and the Guard's assignment is set to expire in July.

'We cannot afford to jeopardize the safety and security of our fellow Americans by removing personnel prematurely,' the governor said Monday in a statement.

Border Patrol officials have credited the troop deployment with a drop in arrests at the border. Arrests along the border in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California fell by about 27 percent in late 2006, compared with the same time in 2005, Border Patrol officials said.