President Barack Obama will deploy up to 1,200 National Guard troops to help secure the Southwest Border against Mexican drug cartels, White House officials said Tuesday.

Obama also is requesting that Congress approve $500 million for enhanced border protection and law enforcement activities as part of an emergency spending bill expected to come to the Senate floor this week.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and a bipartisan group of border state lawmakers in Congress have been urging Obama to send in National Guard troops to respond to the high-profile violence along the U.S.-Mexico border. More than 20,000 Mexicans have died in drug-related violence, and Arizona law enforcement officials have complained of increased home-invasion robberies and other crime in the state's border towns.

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/05/25/20100525president-obama-troops-arizona-mexico-border.html#ixzz0sIAdoduu

But they are under orders not to do much of anything.