Arizona governor signs immigration bill

Status
Not open for further replies.
kokonut said:
Arizona is doing the job the feds refuse to do by taking the law and our borders seriously to protect the health, safety, and welfare of our citizens first. I've no objection to that.
Click to expand...

so do you want the Feds to police around the local street and do the local police's job?
 
Berry said:
I'm not certain what kind of a problem it is. Political, emotional, economic, etc.

I don't think how our country solves its problems should be influenced by how other countries handle their problems. It would be wise to examine the merits of other countries methods of solving problems, but just because they do or do not do something is not a valid reason for us to emulate them.

As Jiro says, "There are other ways."
Click to expand...

And Arizona is doing something pro-active. If there are "other ways" we're certainly not hearing them nor is Congress interested in them, or so it seems.
 
and why the federal immigration reform never passed? because of GOP's lackluster's effort to proceed with it.

What does Arizona's immigration law do? - CNN.com
Is federal immigration legislation coming?

Democrats tell CNN that if they don't get Republican commitments soon, they likely will push to move a bill without GOP support.

Democratic sources said the chances of passing immigration reform in that scenario this year are slim, but they want to make clear to key constituencies they are at least trying.

President Obama is still pushing for a bill, though.

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina is the only GOP senator on board, but he has told Democrats they will lose his support unless they find another Republican.

Obama recently called Sen. Scott Brown, R-Massachusetts, to try to get him on board, a Brown spokeswoman said.

On Thursday, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Alabama, said in a statement that during tough economic conditions, Americans are "dubious" about immigration reform.

He said the White House and Congress should not immediately take up the issue -- but instead "take targeted steps to deal with the crisis at the border, increase the usage of the E-Verify program, and enhance prosecutions of employers who knowingly hire illegal workers."

The last immigration reform efforts in Congress were in 2005 when Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, and the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, Brown's predecessor, introduced a bipartisan bill that aimed to implement guest-worker programs and ways for more illegal immigrants to become citizens.

The McCain-Kennedy bill, however, never came up for a vote in the Senate.

Other legislative efforts have failed to gain momentum.
Click to expand...

wassup with that? :dunno:
 
That's a good sign.

"Illegal is illegal," said Pearce, a driving force on the issue in Arizona. "We'll have less crime. We'll have lower taxes. We'll have safer neighborhoods. We'll have shorter lines in the emergency rooms. We'll have smaller classrooms."
Click to expand...

I hope so.
 
political correctness runs amuck. they feel a sense of entitlement. don't feed it by using kid gloves. spoiled of the years.
 
shel90 said:
Seeing a lot of my old Arizonan friends on FB posting how ashamed they are to be Arizonans now...I got mixed feelings about this.
Click to expand...

It could happens to Texas in few years or so, I'll probably have the mixed feeling about it as well since my girlfriend is a Mexican. I don't want to get pull over by a cop or border patrol to check on my girlfriend's immigrantion status.
 
kokonut said:
And Arizona is doing something pro-active. If there are "other ways" we're certainly not hearing them nor is Congress interested in them, or so it seems.
Click to expand...

There are other ways, but no one seems interested in them.

Is proactive always the best answer? Don't pro - activities generate reactive responses?

One of the most serious problems about the "problem" is that no one has defined it as yet... Instead they are demanding "something be done".

I agree with the credo "When solving a problem, first do as little harm as possible."
 
kokonut said:
Arizona is doing the job the feds refuse to do by taking the law and our borders seriously to protect the health, safety, and welfare of our citizens first. I've no objection to that.
Click to expand...

Protect the health, safety, and welfare of our citizens? What are our citizens being protected from? The big scary Mexicans?
 
There's another thread about this. Can we merge threads?
 
kokonut said:
Arizona is doing the job the feds refuse to do by taking the law and our borders seriously to protect the health, safety, and welfare of our citizens first. I've no objection to that.
Click to expand...

It is probably federal fault but lacks of action from congress on immigrant bill has caused states to pass their own to deal with illegal immigrants.

AZ immigrant bill won't be survive for long time because of court.
 
Mod note:

Threads has been merged.
 
So what's the solution?

The killing of Arizona rancher Robert Krentz allegedly by an illegal immigrant has some critics pointing out that hundreds of miles of U.S.-Mexico border fencing isn't even high enough to stop a person on foot.

Of the 646 miles of barriers currently constructed along the 2,000-mile southern border of the United States, 300 miles are vehicle barriers, according to the Department of Homeland Security. That means they're meant to keep out cars and trucks, but aren't high enough to keep out people crossing the border illegally on foot.

Fencing in place just south of the Krentz family ranch in southeastern Arizona is exactly that kind of vehicle barrier, plus there's a sizable gap in the fence nearby.

Residents and officials say the security barrier is simply ineffective, and that the killing last month is shining a light on the problem.

Rancher Wendy Glenn, Krentz's longtime friend and neighbor who heard the man's last radio transmission to his brother, said she has roughly 4 miles of border fence along Malpai Ranch. The "wildlife-friendly" barrier -- one that allows large animals and determined people to pass through freely -- ranges from large Normandy-style "X" crosses to standard posts and rails, topping off at no more than six feet high, she said.

"It doesn't keep any people out," Glenn told FoxNews.com on Monday. "We don't want any more fence here. We want more people on the border. No matter what they put in, they're going to tunnel under, cut through, or use ladders. We don't need that."

Glenn characterized the border fence as a "big waste of money" and called for increased federal presence along the remote areas, as well increased communication among law enforcement agencies.

"We need more people on the border," she said. "And we need more horse patrols -- they are awesome."

Jenny Burke, a spokeswoman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said 646 of approximately 670 miles of pedestrian and vehicle border fencing has been constructed as of March 26. Just six miles of fencing infrastructure remains to be completed along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border, Burke said.

The roughly 1,350 miles that will not be protected by a border fence of any kind will be patrolled by border agents, other infrastructure or technology, Burke said, or a combination of all three.

Pedestrian fencing used along the border is determined by the geography and have several variations, including steel picket-style fences set in concrete, blockades similar to those found around federal buildings and concrete walls with steel mesh. Vehicle fences, meanwhile, are about 6 feet tall and are typically large Normandy-style crosses.

"And they're all welded together," she said. "So they're impossible to move."

Burke said areas selected for physical fences are locations where illegal immigrants could easily blend in with local surroundings if those individuals successfully crossed the border.

During a tour of the border along Fort Hancock, Texas, last week, Border Patrol Agent Joe Romero said security in the area was improving despite rising fears in the community that drug cartel-related violence in El Porvenir, Mexico, could spill over into the U.S. town at any moment. Still, threats remain, he said.

"At no point am I going to indicate that we have full control of the border, or that we're 100 percent secure on the border," Romero told FoxNews.com. "It's still a struggle, there's still some work to be done. But we've made huge strides."

Romero, one of about 2,600 U.S. Border Patrol agents scouring the 125,000-square mile El Paso sector, extending from Fort Hancock to the New Mexico-Arizona state line, said apprehensions in the area have fallen approximately tenfold in the last four years, from roughly 122,000 in fiscal year 2006 to about 15,000 last year.

The border fence in Fort Hancock roughly 50 miles southeast from Ciudad Juarez, the epicenter of Mexico's ongoing drug war, stands about 20 feet tall in some areas and is entirely absent in others. And along some stretches of land between Fort Hancock and Tornillo, Texas, the nearest town, all that separates the U.S. and Mexico is the ankle-deep Rio Grande River.

Despite its perception as a cure-all blockade, Romero said the border fence is meant to deter large groups of illegal immigrants from entering the country illegally. It's also meant to slow down any would-be border-crossers, giving crucial seconds to roving border patrols in trucks, all-terrain vehicles and on horseback.

Former Colorado Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo, whose touchstone issue is illegal immigration, told FoxNews.com the federal government needs to ideally have a "layered" fence along with National Guard patrol along the entire southern border. A layered fence is a barrier that includes a fence, a road and another fence.

But he said the hundreds of miles of fencing along the border now are not effective.

"That's what's so maddening," Tancredo said.

"It doesn't stop people," said Charles Heatherly, executive director of Tancredo’s Rocky Mountain Foundation. "It's a lie."

Heatherly said in an e-mail to FoxNews.com that the kind of fence by Krentz's home is incapable of stopping "drug smugglers like the one who killed Rob Krentz."

It's unclear who killed Krentz, but local authorities said they suspected an illegal immigrant since footprints near the scene of the crime led back to the Mexican border.
Click to expand...
FOXNews.com - Border Fence Under Renewed Fire After Rancher Killing

GOP Reps Offer Bill to Ban Interior Dept. From Hindering Border Agents

By Joshua Rhett Miller

The unknown gunman who murdered an Arizona rancher three weeks ago entered and exited the U.S. illegally in an area where border agents are widely prohibited from using motorized vehicles, constructing roads and installing surveillance structures, federal agents have confirmed.

Jan. 8, 2010: A locked gate at the San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge, where U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents usually wait for U.S. Forest Service officials to escort them onto federal lands even though they have keys for life-threatening situations, according to the House of Representatives' Natural Resources Committee Republicans.

The unknown gunman who murdered an Arizona rancher three weeks ago entered and exited the U.S. illegally in an area where border agents are widely prohibited from using motorized vehicles, constructing roads and installing surveillance structures, federal agents have confirmed.

The development prompted four Republican congressmen to introduce legislation on Wednesday that will ban the Interior Department from using environmental regulations to hinder agents along the border, including at the San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge, a 2,300-acre parcel near where rancher Robert Krentz was killed on March 27.

U.S. Reps. Doc Hastings of Washington, Peter King of New York, Rob Bishop of Utah and Lamar Smith of Texas say their bill, if passed, will address environmental degradation of federal lands and help close national security gaps along the border, which they say has become an uncontrolled highway.

"Effectively securing our borders against illegal entry is a matter of homeland security," King said in a statement prior to the scheduled 1 p.m. press conference at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center in Washington. "Border Patrol agents spend every day on the front line, securing our homeland from terrorists. Denying or limiting the Border Patrol access to public lands and allowing the flow of illegals, including potential terrorists, doesn't protect anything."

The lawmakers say internal documents show that the Interior Department and the U.S. Forest Service have consistently and actively prevented Border Patrol agents from securing U.S. borders by requiring Department of Homeland Security officials to complete lengthy and expensive environmental analyses, and even blocking Border Patrol agents from entering some areas.

"As a result, Border Patrol agents are being forced to wade through bureaucratic red tape just so they can do the job Congress has mandated: gain operational control over the U.S. border," according to a fact sheet released by the House of Representatives' Natural Resources Committee Republicans.

Kendra Barkoff, a spokeswoman for the Interior Department told FoxNews.com that Secretary Ken Salazar visited the area last month to meet with land managers and federal, state, and local law enforcement, including U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security officials.

She said Salazar places a high priority on working with DHS and other agencies to "meet the twin goals of protecting our national security and our natural resources."

But some federal lands are specifically targeted by criminals, drug traffickers and human smugglers for easy access into the United States from Mexico or Canada, the congressmen say.

The Interior Department, the primary land management agency for 40 percent of the Mexican border and 10 percent of the Canadian border, warned of potential problems in a fiscal year 2002-2003 Threat Assessment for Public Lands.

"Virtually all of the lands managed by Department Of The Interior (DOI) along the Arizona/Mexico border are sparsely populated with easy access into the United States from Mexico," the report reads. "Terrorist [sic] wishing to smuggle nuclear -- biological -- or chemical (NBC) weapons into the United States from Mexico could use well-established smuggling routes over DOI managed lands."

Border Patrol agents, park rangers and private citizens have been killed in these federal lands, most recently on March 27, when Krentz was murdered by a person who entered and exited the U.S. illegally via the San Bernardino Wildlife Refuge -- a fact confirmed to the House of Representatives' Natural Resources Committee Republicans by officials from both Customs and Border Protection and the Fish and Wildlife Service.

In 2007, Krentz's wife, Sue, wrote a letter to Congress opposing additional wilderness areas in Arizona she claimed would worsen criminal activity along the border.

"We have experienced $6.2 million dollars of damages to our ranch and water line because of illegal foot traffic," the letter read. "These areas along the border have long been targeted because of the high amount of private property with[in] the boundaries."

Krentz wrote that ranchers in the area, herself included, were fearful for their lives.

"It is not right that illegal immigrants and drug smugglers should take precedence over honest, hard-working Americans whose recreation and livelihood is damaged," the letter continued. "It is the job of the federal government to protect the defined United States borders from invasion."

In addition to blocking efforts to secure the border, the Republican lawmakers say Interior officials are charging Homeland Security millions of dollars for conducting Border Patrol operations on its land.

According to the fact sheet supplied by the House of Representatives' Natural Resources Committee Republicans, DHS has paid DOI more than $9 million since 2007 to mitigate the "environmental damage" of protecting the border. DHS officials agreed to pay an additional $50 million for mitigation funds to DOI, according to a memorandum of agreement in 2009, but DOI officials have yet to disclose how exactly those funds will be used.

"This extortion is taking valuable money away from Border Patrol that is needed to safeguard our nation," the fact sheet reads.

While not addressing the money exchanged between DOI to DHS, Barkoff said significant progress has been made through a joint effort.

"Collaborative work between DOI staff and DHS has allowed for border security infrastructure to be strategically located, including on federal lands, to meet DHS security requirement and goals, while substantially reducing government spending and significantly reducing adverse effects to natural and cultural resources."

DHS spokesman Matt Chandler added that "as challenges arise, we will continue to develop workable solutions on special status lands."

"When our border security activities require close collaboration with DOI and USFS, we view it as an opportunity to support each other's mission by preserving our natural resources while strengthening the security of our borders," he said in a statement.

Rancher Wendy Glenn, Krentz's longtime friend and neighbor who heard the man's last radio transmission to his brother, said she and other residents in the area have been calling for increased border security for years.

Glenn, who has roughly four miles of border fence along Malpai Ranch, said the ineffective and "wildlife-friendly" barrier ranges from large Normandy-style "X" crosses to standard posts and rails, topping off at no more than six feet high.

"It doesn't keep any people out," Glenn told FoxNews.com earlier this month. "We don't want any more fence here. We want more people on the border. No matter what they put in, they're going to tunnel under, cut through, or use ladders. We don't need that … We need more people on the border."

Glenn characterized the border fence as a "big waste of money" and called for increased federal presence along the remote areas, as well increased communication among law enforcement agencies.
Click to expand...
FOXNews.com - GOP Reps Offer Bill to Ban Interior Dept. From Hindering Border Agents
 
In response to the murder:

Theoretically... a war deserter from America could enter the Canadian border illegally and murder a Canadian en route.... yet we never bothered tightening up our security protocol.
 
souggy said:
In response to the murder:

Theoretically... a war deserter from America could enter the Canadian border illegally and murder a Canadian en route.... yet we never bothered tightening up our security protocol.
Click to expand...

You don't have 10,000 illegal aliens entering Canada each day, everyday, taking up your resources, adding to the crimes, drug trafficking, additional taxes, hospital costs and so on.
 
So far...

I see nothing about the bill that will keep illegals OUT of America. All does is give the police some teeth to harass an individual whether or not he's legit citizen or not. So... how does this exactly help deter illegals from entering America? All it does is push people further and further underground.

Won't stop sex trafficking. Won't stop labour trafficking. Won't stop drug trafficking. Illegal exotic pet trafficking. As long there's demand for all of the above, people won't stop from trying to cross into another country.

And believe me... with 300 million legal citizens, there's a LOT of demands for the above; it might be in the minority, but there's enough people demanding services from illegals for them to keep crossing-- and those demands will be met, no matter how far underground it goes.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top