260 soldiers from the California National Guard have helped Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in more than a thousand apprehensions of illegal immigrants. In addition, the National Guard members from California have helped stopping 180 people from entering the United States illegally. In May of 2010 president Obama assigned 1200 National Guard troops to help the Customs and Border Protection secure the southern border of the United States. 260 of the guardsmen were selected from 3,000 volunteers in California, and were assigned to the San Diego sector, adding about 10 percent of manpower to the 2,500 CBP officers operating in the area. They mainly help the Customs and Border Protection with recognizance and by detecting people who cross the border between the U.S. and Mexico illegally. They then pass the information on to the CBP who will confront the migrants. The National Guard troops are not trained to establish the legality of immigrants, and in addition there are treaties in place that disallows the National Guard troops from performing certain duties. Even with the help of the Californian National Guardsmen, there are fewer apprehensions along the U.S. border than before. This is said to be mainly due to the economic recession, and that fewer people are trying to cross the border illegally. The main focus of the troops is to help the CBP ensure that there are no gaps in the coverage of the border. The soldiers work in Entry Identification Teams of two or more, and use infra red- and thermal equipment to spot migrants who try to enter the United States illegally.