by Dennis Wagner
The Arizona Republic

About 30 National Guard soldiers are expected to hit the Arizona-Mexico border Monday, a first wave of reinforcements sent by the Obama administration to bolster border security.

Additional troops will be deployed each Monday until the full complement of 532 has joined the mission, said Lt. Valentine Castillo, a National Guard spokesman in Phoenix.

"Everything is right on track to be fully operational by the beginning of October," Castillo said.

The soldiers, all volunteers, received two to three weeks training that included surveillance techniques and a refresher course in first aid. They will be armed for self-defense, Castillo said, but will not have law-enforcement authority. Instead, their mission is to serve as "extra eyes and ears" for the U.S. Border Patrol.

Some troops will be assigned to teams posted in concealed locations to watch for smugglers and illegal immigrants entering the United States. When the troops spot interlopers, Castillo said, they will call in agents to detain the suspects.

Others will work in intelligence centers, monitoring computers and assisting with electronic-detection systems.

In addition to the 532 troops assigned in the field, the National Guard has 28 soldiers supporting the operation in administrative positions.

"We're here to support Customs and Border Protection," Castillo said. "It's going to be a yearlong mission."'

Mario Escalante, a spokesman for the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector, said many of the soldiers will work in mobile- or remote-surveillance units, supporting the agency's campaign against drug smuggling and illegal immigration.

"It's going to help a lot," Escalante added. "There will be certain areas where they play a major role as a deterrence factor," forcing insurgents to use routes patrolled by agents.

President Barack Obama announced in May plans to deploy National Guard soldiers amid controversy over Arizona's strict immigration-enforcement law and under pressure from Gov. Jan Brewer and members of Congress.

In March 2009, Brewer wrote to the Defense Department requesting 250 additional soldiers for Arizona's Joint Counter Narco-Terrorism Task Force, which already uses National Guard personnel.

Brewer was not available to comment Friday. Spokesman Paul Senseman said the governor is "grateful for the additional assistance" but believes 6,000 reinforcements are now needed to protect the border, with half of them in Arizona.

Senseman said Brewer is calling for the dramatically larger force to ensure that extreme cartel violence in northern Sonora does not leapfrog into Arizona.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced in July that the deployment would commence Aug. 1, but National Guard officials later said that date was meant only to reflect when troops would begin training.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said a first wave of soldiers will begin providing border security in his state on Wednesday. No date has been given for deployments in Texas and New Mexico. Border Patrol data suggest that illegal traffic entering Arizona has plummeted in recent years. Escalante said 194,000 undocumented immigrants had been arrested as of July for fiscal 2010, down from 205,000 during the same period last year. Even though enforcement has dramatically increased, detentions have fallen 65 percent in the past decade.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.