MINOT - About 50 North Dakota National Guard soldiers will head to Arizona next month as part of a federal effort to beef up security along the U.S border with Mexico.

The 164th Engineer Battalion soldiers are from the Minot, Dickinson and Williston area, the Guard said.

The soldiers will be deployed from June 16 to July 8. They will go to Nogales, Ariz., where they will erect a border fence and a low-water crossing, working with the U.S. Border Patrol, said Maj. Steve Johnson.

Gov. John Hoeven, as the state Guard's commander in chief, can recall the soldiers and airmen if there is an emergency in North Dakota.

The costs of the deployment will fall to the federal government.