"Approximately 72 to 75 boots are on the ground directly here on the border supporting this operation," said Lt. Col. Jamison Herrera of the New Mexico National Guard.

President Barack Obama ordered the operation, and their mission is clear: support the U.S. Border Patrol.

"We actually do the early identification and the criminal analysis and allow some of their border patrol agents to get out and really be along the border and have a much faster response time," said Herrera.

"Anytime that we can get helps, in whatever shape or form it comes, it's good for us, it multiplies our numbers, it gives us additional eyes on the border," said Ramiro Cordero of the U.S. Border Patrol.

And there's strategy to every mission.

"We pinpoint their location based on historical data and where we feel we may be getting some traffic," said an official from the Deming Border Patrol station.

Once a location is set, the National Guard and Border Patrol set up their equipment and technology like infrared cameras to watch for any illegal activity.

"Coming up here with the sunset looming it's going to be very important at night time," Herrera said about a National Guard skybox.

"It actually gives us about 20 kilometers, so where we used to have 10 agents working that area, all we need now is a couple of agents," said Cordero when explaining how their mobile surveillance system works.

"I think this is critical for the New Mexico National Guard to be here to support the border patrol because we are all New Mexicans and we want to make our communities safer and secure," said Herrera.

Herrera said the National Guard is expected to assist Border Patrol until the end of June, but that could be extended or decreased depending on assessments done by the Department of Homeland Security.

Cordero said there won't be a National Guard along the more than 80 miles of Texas border surrounding El Paso because the city is so urban and they have enough manpower and equipment to handle that area without the Guard.