The US government will start deploying National Guard members to the four states bordering Mexico next week, just half a month after President George W. Bush announced his plan to strengthen security in the border areas.

The first batch of some 800 Guardsman would be sent to California, Arizona, Texas and New Mexico around June 1, with 200 for each of the states, Lieutenant General Steven Blum, head of the National Guard, told lawmakers on Wednesday.

The number would gradually increase to up to 6,000, as Bush announced, to help stem the flow of illegal immigrants across the border.

Most of the troops would spend about 21 days along the border, which would include their normal annual two-week training period, and they would not be engaged in law enforcement activities, which would be carried out by Border Patrol agents.

The Guardsman would focus on engineering, road and fence building, transportation, logistics and surveillance and reconnaissance.

Bush announced on May 15 that as many as 6,000 National Guard soldiers would be deployed in the US-Mexico border, to help stop illegal immigration.

Under the two-year plan, up to 6,000 Guard troops would be dispatched to the borders in the first year, and the number would be cut to no more than 3,000 in the second year, when more Border Patrol agents would have been trained.

(Xinhua News Agency May 25, 2006)