http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/scotus/la-na-napolitano23-2008nov23,0,7295300.story
From the Los Angeles Times
Napolitano: a border-law enforcer in D.C.?
The governor of Arizona, who has long complained about federal
immigration law, is expected to be named Obama's secretary of
Homeland Security.
By David G. Savage
November 23, 2008
Reporting from Washington As governor of Arizona, Janet Napolitano
last year signed into law the nation's harshest penalty for employers
who knowingly hire illegal immigrants, a measure that would take away
their business licenses for a second violation.
She called it the "business death penalty" and the "most aggressive
action in the country" to stem the flow of illegal workers. She also
criticized Congress and the federal government for failing to act on
immigration overhaul. "The states will take the lead, and Arizona
will take the lead among the states," she said.
Now, Napolitano may have a chance to lead the federal effort to
enforce immigration laws if, as expected, she is nominated by
President-elect Barack Obama to head the Department of Homeland Security.
Her record in Arizona, where she has been both the U.S. attorney and
the state's attorney general, suggests she is willing to be a tough
enforcer. Her state has a 376-mile border with Mexico, and she was
the first governor to call for stationing the National Guard along it.
But Napolitano also has shown an instinct for finding her way through
the immigration minefield in a state where political battle lines
were well drawn. She took a centrist position, supporting strong
steps to prevent new illegal immigrants from coming to Arizona, while
opposing most measures that would punish illegal immigrants who were
already living and working there.
Bucking popular sentiment, she vetoed a bill in 2005 that would have
cut off in-state tuition aid to students in the country illegally.
"This bill goes too far by punishing even longtime residents of this
state who were brought here as small children by their parents," she said.
She also vetoed bills that would have required the local police to
enforce the immigration laws by arresting people in the state illegally.
"The illegal immigrant has in Gov. Napolitano his best friend in the
state," Republican state Rep. Tom Boone, a sponsor of these measures,
said in reaction to her veto.
Nonetheless, the Democratic governor has remained popular in
Republican-leaning Arizona. She was reelected two years ago by a
nearly 2-1 ratio, and her approval rating is well over 70%.
"She has attempted to take a middle ground, and her view is it has
calmed the debate in Arizona," said John Trasvina, president and
general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education
Fund in Los Angeles.
But a tough enforcer of existing immigration laws is not what his
group was hoping for from the Obama administration. Trasvina said his
group and other Latino groups might not support her nomination with
enthusiasm. "Arizona has become one of the worst states for
immigrants in this country," he said. "I would say her record fits
the state of Arizona, and we look forward to a different focus when
she reaches Washington."
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund and the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce, among other groups, have gone to court to
challenge Arizona's employer-sanction law. A federal judge upheld it
in February; an appeal is pending in the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Some advocates of stronger enforcement say Napolitano may be a good
choice for Homeland Security secretary. "As governor, she has
bitterly complained about the federal government's failure to control
immigration. Now she could have the opportunity to change things. She
will be in charge of enforcement," said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for
the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
Napolitano has not been a backer of the border fence currently under
construction: "You show me a 50-foot wall, and I'll show you a
51-foot ladder," she has said.
But in a speech last year, she outlined a series of measures to
control immigration, including an improved national employer
verification system that would make use of Social Security data.
"Our current immigration system is broken. It is too easy for the
'bad guys' to enter our country and too difficult for the 'good guys'
-- whose energies and intellects we need -- to obtain lawful status," she said.
She called for a streamlined visa process and "tamper-proof
immigration documents" that would reduce the use of fraudulent identifications.
She also proposed a "temporary worker program with no amnesty" that
would help employers fill the need for workers. "Foreign labor should
not be a substitute for U.S. workers, but it is critical that we
bring foreign workers out of the shadows, put the clamps on the
underground labor market and bring greater stability to our
workforce," she said.
At the same time, the federal government should force employers to
check the immigration status of new workers. "We have the technology;
now we need to put it to work . . . so employers can perform
real-time verification" to assure that new workers are here legally,
she said. "Employers who hire illegal immigrants -- and know it --
should be held accountable and penalized."
And though Napolitano said she favored allowing foreign workers to
come to the U.S. for temporary employment, she also said they should
be called temporary workers. "I reject the term 'guest' worker," she
said. "To me, this implies someone coming here to take a vacation.
These people are coming to work."
Savage is a writer in our Washington bureau.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
---
The Washington Times
August 24, 2005 Wednesday
Chertoff assures Arizona of help on border
By Jerry Seper, THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The Department of Homeland Security, responding to a state of
emergency declared last week by Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano because
of illegal immigration, says it wants to help Arizona combat alien
smuggling, ease related prison overcrowd-ing and train state police officers.
"We are moving forward quickly and aggressively to fashion a
comprehensive plan with real solutions," Homeland Security Secretary
Michael Chertoff told the gov-ernor in a letter delivered Monday. He
said the agency wants to "build a part-nership with Arizona."
Mr. Chertoff said yesterday that his agency was examining how best to
tighten U.S. borders while catching, detaining and deporting illegal
aliens already in the country. The review is expected in the next
several weeks.
"I think this is very promising," Miss Napolitano said during a visit
yesterday to Washington. "We're finally seeing some movement. I look
forward to speaking with Secretary Chertoff. It's finally nice to get
something in writing."
Miss Napolitano, who released $1.5 million in emergency funds to help
Cochise, Pima, Santa Cruz and Yuma counties combat an influx of
illegal aliens, had ac-cused the federal government of failing to
secure the border, saying rising il-legal immigration threatened the
public's safety and health.
She also was critical of the federal government's unwillingness to
reimburse state and local governments for the cost of apprehending,
prosecuting and de-taining illegal aliens who commit crimes in
Arizona. In February, she sent the Justice Department a bill for $217
million for incarcerating criminal aliens, a request to which the
department did not respond.
Arizona is the nation's most popular immigration corridor, accounting
for about half of the 1.15 million illegal aliens apprehended last
year. A flood of il-legals into Arizona has resulted in a huge rise
in crime statewide, as well as an explosion of violence on the border
- much of it aimed at U.S. Border Patrol agents.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson had declared a state of emergency for
four bor-der counties a few days before Miss Napolitano, making
$750,000 immediately available to help pay for additional
law-enforcement efforts and to build a fence around a Columbus, N.M.,
livestock yard where cattle have been killed or stolen by illegals.
He also pledged an additional $1 million for the counties.
Mr. Richardson said he was "encouraged" by Mr. Chertoff's response to
his con-cerns, saying the secretary told him during a telephone call
yesterday that bor-der security was a top department priority.
"We need help as soon as possible, and I was encouraged by his
telephone call and his comments," Mr. Richardson said, adding that
Mr. Chertoff told him that the department was getting 1,000 new
Border Patrol agents and that many of them will be assigned to the
New Mexico border.
Mr. Richardson also said he was meeting on Friday with Gov. Jose
Reyes Baeza in Chihuahua, Mexico, located just across the border from
New Mexico, and was "hopeful" the two could reach agreements on
immigration and border security con-cerns.
Mr. Chertoff said yesterday that his department, as part of the
pending review, recently had begun mapping out its surveillance
equipment, personnel and other assets to combat the hundreds of
thousands of illegal aliens crossing into the United States from
Mexico each year - and the criminal "coyote" groups that smuggle them.
"We have established working groups with ardent goals and short
deadlines to make recommendations for better enforcement strategies
all across the operations spectrum," Mr. Chertoff wrote in his letter
to Miss Napolitano, calling immigra-tion enforcement an issue of
"utmost importance."
Homeland Security spokesman Jarrod Agen said the department hopes to
involve Arizona law-enforcement officers with agents from U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol to crack
down on alien and drug smuggling in the Phoenix area.
Mr. Agen said ICE will invite Arizona Department of Public Safety
officers to participate in the agency's human-trafficking task forces
in Phoenix and that the Border Patrol will ask for DPS officers to
work with agents at checkpoints on two interstate highways. He also
said patrol activities at Sky Harbor Inter-national Airport by
federal agents would continue, and that similar patrols would begin
at the Phoenix bus station.
He also noted that 350 additional Border Patrol agents have been
assigned to New Mexico.
In March, Homeland Security said it was sending 500 new Border Patrol
agents to southeastern Arizona to combat illegal immigration and
protect against terror-ists, 150 immediately and the remaining by Sept. 30.
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