Posted on 03/05/2005 7:36:55 AM PST by IonImplantGuru
Gov. Janet Napolitano is escalating her fight with the federal government after a top official at the U.S. Justice Department refused to provide Arizona more money this year to house illegal entrants convicted of state crimes.
Tim Nelson, the governor's chief legal counsel, said Friday Napolitano is insisting on a meeting with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. That comes after someone lower in the Justice Department rebuffed the governor's demand for $118 million to cover the state's costs.
But Nelson said if that meeting produces no better results - or Gonzales refuses to talk - the governor is not prepared to let the issue die and leave the state holding the financial bag.
Asked if that means busing Arizona inmates to federal prisons, Nelson said only "we're weighing all our options." He said Arizona needs to get the attention of federal officials.
The only thing not being considered, he said, is simply letting these criminals out of prison.
The situation is escalating following what the governor said, in a prepared statement, is an inadequate response to her demand last month that the Justice Department either pay the state for the costs of housing criminals who entered the country illegally or take them off the state's hands, as federal law requires.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailystar.com ...
Don't you just love politically-correct euphemisms such as "entrant"? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, entrant means "one that enters; especially: one that enters a contest". So, there must be a real problem with contests in Arizona, what with all of the brouhaha about illegal contest entrants, huh...
I'm predicting, though, that this is one PC-ism that isn't going to catch on in the real world...
The Gov should bus them to D.C. and dump them on the White House lawn, then Bush can figure out what to do with them while still playing for the Hispanic vote.
More tent cities are one solution.
Good luck Janet! We've had this problem in Cal. since the early '90s.
point is, if the feds won't handle it, YOU handle it....thats what we're supposed to like anyway.
I'll bet just even threatening this would get the check in the mail.
This woman's Claim to Fame is that she was Anita Hill's attorney at Clarence Thomas' confirmation hearing.
She is a Hillary-clone chameleon. She vigorously campaigned against Prop. 200, which makes people PROVE that they are citizens to get a driver's license or state benefits. After it passed, she launched two court challeges against it.
Don't be fooled.
She's also up for re-election and this is cheap publicity.
Oh, believe me: I'm not fooled! I didn't vote for her, but now that she's in we have to deal. I voted for prop 200.
That said, she does have a point in this particular case; if Feds say they'll pay funds to the states for incarceration of 'illimigrant' [TM coinage of IIG) criminals, then they ought to follow through. AZ gets only 2% or so of the available federal incarceration funds, yet it's painfully obvious that the burden of illimigration (TM) is falling mainly on the southwestern states of CA, AZ, NM, and TX, with the most porous border segment being AZ according to the data I've seen. The 2% figure suggests they're divvying up the funds equally amongst all the states (100% / 50 states = 2%/state); if so, that's just stupid.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.