June 17, 2006 -- The first group of National Guard troops are expected to arrive in El Paso this Monday.

Almost half of the troops will be assigned to simply observe the border and alert border patrol of anything suspicious, similar to the work currently being done by troops monitoring the border in New Mexico.

Other soldiers will concentrate on building road barriers and monitoring camera equipment.

KFOX spoke to one local lawmaker who is not very keen on President George W. Bush's plan to keep the National Guard troops in the El Paso area.

"I do not think it's a good idea to have National Guard right in the middle of our community. The National Guard was built up to fight wars and they're very good at that," said state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, (D) El Paso.

Gov. Rick Perry said by the end of the summer an estimated 2,300 troops will be stationed along the Texas-Mexico border.