SALT LAKE CITY -- Gov. Jon Huntsman said Monday he supports President Bush's decision to send as many as 6,000 National Guard troops to the Mexican border in an effort to stop a tide of illegal immigrants entering the country.

"This is sound public policy," Huntsman said.

Bush's announcement comes little more than a week before Mexican President Vicente Fox is scheduled to meet with Huntsman and other state leaders on a trip that will include visits to Seattle and Sacramento, Calif.

The Utah Minuteman Project is planning protests at the governor's mansion and at the state Capitol, where Fox is scheduled to address a special session of the Legislature.

Utah Minuteman Project founder Alex Segura said he supports Bush's plan, but thinks it will accomplish little.

"It's just another shell game to make it look like he's doing something because the political heat in his kitchen is getting so hot he's getting burned by everything he touches," Segura said.

Bush's speech comes as the U.S. Senate begins work on legislation to strengthen border security, authorize new guest worker programs and give an eventual chance at citizenship to most of the estimated 12 million people already living illegally in the United States.

Huntsman said he believes most Utah residents would support Bush's plan.

"In most all of the conversations I've had on the issue, our citizens almost to a person agree that this is a problem crying out for a solution. In order to adequately address the problem, you've got to start with the border," he said.

The Western Governors' Association, of which Utah is a member, adopted a resolution in February in opposition to offering blanket amnesty to all undocumented workers. The association supports steps to reduce the delays in legal immigration and to tighten security at the U.S.-Mexico border. Those topics will headline Huntsman's talk with Fox on immigration.

"What is important about this, is he will better understand the sentiment and the urgency that many Americans attach to the issue. You can't fully understand that being outside of the area," he said.

Fox's visit will be the first by a Mexican president to Utah.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A1.