Posted on 04/22/2010 6:45:54 PM PDT by SandRat
PHOENIX - Gov. Jan Brewer unveiled her border security plan Thursday that consists largely of moving around funding for existing National Guard units, providing one-time grants for local law enforcement - and railing against the Obama administration for failing to do more.
In a press conference at the state's National Guard headquarters, Brewer said it is the not the job of state government to secure the border.
"But we have no other choice,'' she said. "Those who have failed to protect us have shown only weakness and delay.''
She said President Obama and his top officials have "simply turned a blind eye to the issues that Arizona is being overrun by illegal immigration, terrorizing the citizens.''
"No matter the cost, no matter the sacrifice, we cannot shirk government's principle responsibilities to the citizens we serve to provide safety and security,'' she said.
But Brewer, citing the condition of the state budget, said there actually is only so much the state can do on its own.
One of the changes is to reorganize federal funding the state already gets for its Joint Counterterrorism/Narcotics Task Force.
Hugo Salazar, the adjutant general of the Arizona National Guard, said shifting those dollars would allow for more soldiers to spend more time in the border area.
But he stressed that Guard soldiers are not law enforcement personnel and won't be out looking for and apprehending illegal immigrants.
Brewer's announcement comes as she is weighing whether to sign legislation aimed at giving police more power to stop and arrest illegal immigrants.
The measure requires police officers, when practical, to ask people they contact whether they are in this country legally. And while it precludes race and ethnicity from being used as the sole factor for determining who to question, those factors can be part of the consideration.
Brewer, who must sign or veto the bill before Sunday — or let it become law without her signature — said she has not yet made a decision. And the governor said she will not be pressured into moving any faster, either way, by the protests that have made national news.
And the governor also faces a call by U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, a Democratic congressman from Tucson, for businesses to avoid Arizona for their meetings and conferences.
That is the same kind of boycott that many businesses conducted in the late 1980s until Arizona finally enacted a state holiday honoring slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Brewer was in the Legislature at that time.
She does not support what Grijalva is proposing.
"I think that would be really unfortunate situation, you know,'' Brewer said. "We certainly wouldn't like to see that happen.''
But she sidestepped a question of whether the threat of an economic boycott would figure in her decision whether to sign or veto the measure.
"I would hope that wouldn't take place,'' she said.
Grijalva, on Thursday, defended his call and said it simply reflects reality — a reality that lawmakers and the governor need to realize has an economic impact.
Border Ping
Yes Zero has violated his oath of Office.
Brewer better sign that illegal alien law.
The AZ Senate needs to get the eligibility law passed and she needs to sign that too.
The AZ GOP state legislators should be encouraged. They are doing great work.
Gen. Hugo Salazar, ...”won’t be out looking for and apprehending illegal immigrants...” This total BS!
FIRE THE BASTARD!
Obama shouldn’t even be POTUS. The sooner he is out of the WH; the better.
If Arizona drops its bill requiring Obummer (and all others) to show their bona fides to be Prez in any future runs for office, why am I sure Arizona would suddenly get heaps of stimulus funds and Federal help with the border. I like Lame Cherry’s resonse...that this is our ticket out of this horror story. Have every state that will, start their own legislation demanding candidates for Presidential office show their documentation PRIOR to getting put on the ballot and Nancy P. supplying bogus certification (except for the State of Hawaii, who got a real certification for some reason???)
Jan is more of a man than the boy marxist.
I think we can do something about any little boycott the Rats can come up with, don’t you?
Maybe the Governor ought to set up some kind of Border Defense Fund, like a legal defense fund, that people can contribute to. Just see what happens.
Yeah, it's time we face reality, his loyalty is toward Mexico and not the American people, that is the reality that we must face.
Lame Cherry is GREAT!
Hang tough Governor Brewer, we are on our own.
The governor could change the entire equation by instituting a relatively low cost solution: a bounty.
It is simplicity itself. Offer citizens say, $50 a day and $20 a head to radio report in when they observe suspected illegals in the border area. The citizens are given half a dozen rotating radio frequencies that are monitored, and a daily code identifier.
Then they go out into the desert and are assigned an observation point. When they call in, they use a simple format to describe what they see. And if the suspected illegals are detained, and shown to be illegal, then the observer gets credited an automatic amount to their account.
Even better, observers can work as a group, with some members providing support and others spotting, and they get paid as a group.
There would likely be some requirements, like observers having at least two people on an OP, that one or both be armed, and that they carry or have available to them suitable water, and be certified for desert survival.
But right now, with high unemployment, $50 a day and $20 a head sounds like very good money, especially if you get a high traffic area, but costs just a fraction of the amount a National Guardsman or a uniformed officer costs.
Ping!
Grijalva is a racist piggy. He dreams of someday being der Fuhrer of his own Land of Aztlan.
She’d better damn well sign the thing. I was more PO’d traveling near the border and seeing what criminals have done to our land than I’ve been in years.
Are the Guard armed, allowed to shoot and apprehend?
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