By Maj. Scott Bell, S.C. National Guard Historian

Master Sgt. Jones, a public affairs specialist with the S.C. Army National Guard, in Tucson helping to patrol the U.S./Mexico border.

Ninety years after the S.C. Army National Guard's last deployment to help protect America's southwest border from the outlaw Pancho Villa, Master Sgt. Phillip H. Jones, a wildlife photographer with the S.C. Department of Natural Resources is one of 2,000 South Carolina Army National Guard soldiers who will spend their annual training this year assisting the U.S. Border Patrol along the 262- mile Tucson Sector of the U.S./Mexico border.

The purpose of this mass deployment of S.C. Army National Guard troops over the next three months is to assist the U.S. Border Patrol or B.P. with their ongoing efforts to put "edges back on our border." According to B.P. Agents (who cannot be identified for security reasons), for every Guardsman who helps support the border protection infrastructure here, an extra set of eyes and ears in the form of entry identification teams is being provided.

Agents of the Border Patrol say the effect of the presence of the National Guard serving in a variety of support roles in the Tucson Sector has provided them with the added manpower that has led to an increase in illegal immigrant apprehensions and narcotic seizures.

When asked why Mexico isn't doing more to stem the tide of illegal immigration into the U.S., agents responded - "Economics." An estimated 12 million illegal immigrants presently in the U.S. send back roughly $18 billion a year to their families in Mexico.