Guardsmen begin duty along border Soldiers now providing assistance at Calais-St. Stephen, N.B., crossings

Army green and brown became part of the colors Thursday at Maine’s major border crossings.

About 1,700 National Guardsmen – deployed as activated personnel under the U.S. Army – will help police the nation’s northern and southern borders for the next six months.

About 100 will work at 19 of Maine’s border crossings.

They will be unarmed.

Since the Sept. 11 terror attacks, officers of the U.S. Customs Service and the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service have been doing double duty. So under an agreement between the Department of Justice and Department of Defense, members of the National Guard are being added until more INS and Customs officers can be trained.

On Thursday, the first group of military personnel assigned to the Calais area spent their first day of duty inside an INS classroom, where officials briefed them on their procedures. By Thursday afternoon, they were on the Ferry Point and Milltown bridges, which connect Calais with St. Stephen, New Brunswick.

Some civilians who have traveled in foreign countries noted that the Army green and brown on Maine’s border reminded them of other national boundaries where travelers must pass through checkpoints.

Still, Calais resident Melissa Royer said she was glad to see the troops. “The local guys are getting pretty tired. They’ve put in a lot of long hours,” she said.

She said the military presence would alter the air of familiarity that now exists on the Maine border because most Customs officials know the travelers who regularly cross. “So you are back to being a number again. That’s kind of unnerving,” she said.

Joanie Demmons, who had just been processed through the Calais border, said she felt the process was a bit much: “I think it’s great as far as making everything safe, but it’s a little extreme. We’re talking about Calais, Maine – I can’t see a lot happening here,” she said.

Lois Greenlaw, who has lived in the Calais area all her life, said the Guardsmen were a first. “I think it’s great. We need them for protection. I think there’s a lot coming in that we don’t know about. It’s scary,” she said.

Additional members of the military are expected to be on site and assigned to Customs by early next week.

Before their call-up, the Guardsmen were regular civilians, said Maj. Peter Rogers, deputy chief of staff for the Maine Army National Guard.

Once they were called up, they reported to Bangor for a records update and some training. Then they were sent to a base in New York for additional training. They returned to Maine last week.

“This is kind of a unique mission,” Rogers said. “During the Gulf War they went from the mobilization site over to Saudi Arabia, but in this mission they were released back to Maine, where they underwent some agency-specific training” by the INS, Customs and the U.S. Border Patrol.

Paul Morris, INS deputy district director in Portland, said the assistance provided by the military would be helpful in meeting the requirements of the nation’s heightened security level. “It has been some long, difficult months since September 11, and the heightened security is going to continue indefinitely … and we need to be prepared to address that.”

In Washington, U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe welcomed the deployment. Just 14 days after the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, Snowe urged the president to increase human and technological resources on the northern border.

“Maine is a vast border state, with the longest land border with Canada of any other northern-border states. Unfortunately, we have faced chronic understaffing along the border, whether for Immigration, Customs or Border Patrol purposes,” Snowe said.

Although they were busy checking vehicles Thursday, the troops did not carry guns. “DOD personnel will not be armed nor will they provide a task that requires lethal or nonlethal force,” the Justice Department said in a news release.

Morris said law enforcement activities would remain with U.S. Customs and INS officers, who are armed.

The duties of the military personnel include searching vehicles and assisting with pedestrian and traffic management, Morris said.

And that was what they were doing Thursday. They were looking under hoods and inside trunks. They had mirrors on poles that enabled them to look under cars. They were inspecting back seats and looking inside the cabs of the big tractor-trailer trucks that regularly cross the border.

Snowe said she was concerned that the troops were unarmed. “This heightened level of alert, coupled with Maine’s numerous remote crossings, could put staff at risk in the long run. That’s why I will continue to press for the deployment of fully trained and screened border agents as soon as is practicable,” she said.

Armed or not, the new arrivals were a welcome relief for border officials. Tim Donnell, the U.S. Customs area port director in Calais, said Wednesday that it has been a long six months for his employees.

He said the military presence would make a difference. “It is to bolster our staffing and allow us to take a breath,” he said.