About 150 state National Guard troops already work at the border doing counter-narcotics work.  It’s not clear how many more might join them to help secure the border if the Governor gives the go-ahead.  Schwarzenegger says he is open to their temporary use – but he needs more information:

 “What if they have 6,000 national guards at the borders and we find out that the same amount of people are coming across?  Does it mean he will increase it to 12,000 to 15,000 to 50,000?  We don’t know.”

Schwarzenegger has said he’s worried about spreading the state guard too thin.  There are roughly 20-thousand members.  22-hundred of those are currently deployed outside the state – most in Iraq.   
The Governor’s press secretary says federal officials have assured the Governor the U.S. intends to reimburse states for the cost of deploying troops to the border.