A doubt crossed my mind earlier this week when interviewing Homeland Security Secretary Mi

chael Chertoff on the president's proposal to use National Guard troops to support the border patrol efforts to curb illegal immigration from Mexico. Chertoff was explaining that the 6,000 troops who would supplement the 12,000 patrol agents on the border would be an interim(临时的) force. It might take two years, he said, to recruit and train several thousand additional men and women for the border agency that is now part of his department. As they come on line, the number of Guard troops would be reduced.

Whatever the long-term outcome for the border, this major increase is a significant step. I understand the president's position that tightened border security should be linked to a guest-worker program giving immigrants a way to work temporarily and legally in this country, and to a path for eventual citizenship for the millions who have been residing here illegally for many years. And tough measures should be taken now to close the border and deport the illegals, and only after that has been done should other steps be considered.

But the president's proposal faces a triple hazard in the real world. One potential problem: If the goal is to seal the border, will additional 6,000 National Guard troops plus a load of fancy surveillance(监视) equipment, be sufficient to do the job？ Chances are, the answer is no. According to Chertoff and others in the administration, the size of the Border Patrol has grown by 3,000—from 9,000 to 12,000—in recent years and spending on border security has gone up at an even faster pace. But the tide of illegals drawn by the promise of jobs they cannot find in their home countries still floods into the United States. The second question is even more basic: Is the assumption that it's possible to seal the border at all realistic？ There are students of the border, far more export than I am, who say that the idea of a barrier—physical, electronic or human—along those miles of desert is unrealistic. Their cautions deserve attention. Finally, there is the political question: Can the House be moved by the proposal the president has put forward？ The odds are against it. Bush might have failed last December in a forceful intervention when the House bill was being drafted, but now the chances of getting the House to move to anything like the Bush position are far worse.

Bush's point of view is honorable and generous. But he comes to it in a weakened political position and with a dubious proposal. It will be a miracle if he prevails.

National Guard troops are intended by the president to ______.

A．replace the inefficient border agents

B．help to strengthen the border security

C．work as members of the border agent

D．take charge of the border security