[JURIST] California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger [official website] has agreed to support President Bush's deployment of National Guard troops along the Mexican border [JURIST report] by sending 1,000 Guard members from California to join the effort. As part of the agreement, the federal government will reportedly cover the cost of sending the troops, who will aid the US Border Patrol.

Schwarzenegger was initially reluctant to allow the California National Guard to assist the Border Patrol, and insisted in remarks [text] Thursday that "the mission that I will assign to our California National Guard will be significantly different from the plan laid out by President Bush." In particular, Schwarzenegger plans to sign an executive order that calls for the California troops' withdrawal by the end of 2008. The deployment of up to 6,000 Guard members in cooperation with state governors, which Bush announced in a prime-time address [JURIST report] last month, is a key element in the president's immigration reform [JURIST news archive] strategy. AP has more.