========================================== http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/11439982.htm Posted on Wed, Apr. 20, 2005 U.S. should `close borders' with Mexico, governor says REMARK ELICITS ANGER FROM STATE DEMOCRATS By Laura Kurtzman Mercury News Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Tuesday the United States should ``close the borders'' with Mexico, in answer to a question about what policies he would recommend on immigration. ``It's a federal issue, and the only thing I can say and add to this is, really, close the borders,'' Schwarzenegger said during a question-and-answer session at a national convention for newspaper publishers in San Francisco. ``Close the borders in California and all across between Mexico and the United States, because I think it is just unfair to have all of those people coming across and to have the borders open the way it is and have this kind of a lax situation. I think we here in California have to still finish the border.'' Margita Thompson, the governor's press secretary, was quick to tell reporters that Schwarzenegger did not really mean what he said at the Newspaper Association of America conference. ``He means secure the borders,'' she said. However, the governor made a similar remark during the 2003 recall election in an interview with Fox News. ``We have to close the borders, make them tighter,'' he said Tuesday. He then he went on to speak about the need to ``negotiate with them,'' referring apparently to political leaders in Mexico. Several leading Democrats reacted angrily to the governor's remarks, which come as volunteer Minutemen are patrolling the border in Arizona to intercept illegal immigrants and as Congress prepares to take up new immigration reforms. ``The governor should ratchet down his rhetoric and retreat from this narrow-minded approach to immigration policy,'' Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, said in a prepared statement. ``Closing our borders to commerce and culture is an idea that comes from political extremists, not rational policy-makers. Even President Bush rejects the idea of a closed border with Mexico. We need an immigration policy that preserves our productive relationship with Mexico and respects the rule of law.'' Núñez's spokesman, Steve Maviglio, added, ``It sounds like he's hanging around with the Pat Buchanan crowd,'' a reference to the conservative commentator and former presidential candidate who is virulently anti-illegal immigration. ``And I don't hear him wanting to close the border with Canada. It's just `Those people.' '' Art Torres, chairman of the California Democratic Party, said, ``He's become an Austrian Minuteman now.'' He said Schwarzenegger was taking the low road on immigration to deflect from his troubles with nurses, teachers, firefighters and police officers, in the same way that former Gov. Pete Wilson used the issue to win re-election despite his unpopularity during a recession. ``It's very sad to see that someone with that capacity to lead and to govern is resorting to that,'' Torres said. Schwarzenegger, whose past is shadowed by questions about whether he worked without a proper visa when he first came to the United States in 1968 and later in 1971, went on to say that he thought several upcoming proposals to reform immigration ought to be given a fair hearing. Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., are expected to introduce reform legislation soon that combines tougher enforcement with a guest worker program. The law is also expected to include a mechanism that would allow illegal immigrants to earn legal status. ``It is a very important debate,'' Schwarzenegger said to the newspaper group. ``I think that it is necessary that we solve the problems, rather than everyone kind of trying to run the other way, because it's just such a hot issue and such a delicate issue. So I think they have to eventually get together and really solve those problems. But, like I said, it's a national issue. There's not much that we can do here in California.'' At the luncheon with the newspaper group, the governor also made a conciliatory gesture toward Democrats, who spent the weekend trashing him at their convention in Los Angeles. ``The thing that I am most proud of is that I was able to bring the Democrats and the Republicans together, because this is the only way we can accomplish things,'' he said. ``This is why we accomplished so much last year.'' -- ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Take a look at donorschoose.org, an excellent charitable web site for anyone who cares about public education! http://us.click.yahoo.com/_OLuKD/8WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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