Lawmaker: Obama to send 1,200 troops to border

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TUCSON, Ariz. — An Arizona congresswoman says the Obama administration will announce that it will send as many as 1,200 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to improve border security.

Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords also says in a statement Tuesday that President Barack Obama will request $500 million in funding for border security.

In 2006, President George W. Bush sent thousands of troops to the border to perform support duties that tie up immigration agents. The troops wouldn't perform significant law enforcement duties.

That program has since ended, and politicians in border states have called for troops to be sent there to curb human and drug smuggling and prevent Mexico's drug violence from spilling over into the United States.