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Carroll Cox: Rural Arizona
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GUEST OPINION
Illegal Aliens: They’ve Got a Friend … in Napolitano By State Rep. Russell Pearce (R-Mesa)
The 4,000 to 8,000 illegal aliens who
cross into Arizona daily have found a friend in Arizona. Her name is Janet
Napolitano. The impact of malfeasance by the federal government is born by Arizona citizens and taxpayers. AHCCCS has exploded to over $4 billion annually, more people are enrolled in AHCCCS than in K-12. There are now 170,000 English learners in our K-12 education system. Healthcare costs are hugely impacted, and hospitals are in trouble financially (in 2003, 77 border hospitals filed bankruptcy). Other major concerns are crime (80 percent of violent crime involves illegal aliens), violent illegal alien gangs, soaring criminal justice costs, neighborhoods, drug trafficking, home invasions, a violated election process and more.
Our No. 1 responsibility is to protect the
rights and liberties of the Citizens of this great country. This governor and the government are complicit. We accommodate illegal aliens with education, healthcare, cash assistance, housing, welfare and even jobs. Napolitano makes noise occasionally as if she is concerned with the illegal invasion, yet works to keep the status quo that encourages illegal aliens to infiltrate this state. She opposed Prop. 200 and even after it passed has worked to keep it from being implemented. She vetoed a bill that would have banned the use of the so-called matricula consular ID cards that the FBI warns are a serious threat to homeland security. More than 100,000 illegal aliens in Arizona hold matricula cards, and the sole purpose of these cards is to benefit "illegal" aliens in getting government benefits. Steve McGraw, a top FBI intelligence official, told a congressional panel that the matricula cards are not a reliable form of ID and represent a serious threat to homeland security. Napolitano wants local governments to continue accepting this card despite the FBI's warning. She wants to coddle illegals and the entire Hispanic community. What she fails to recognize is that Mexican-Americans, care about America and are just as incredulous about the rampant illegal immigration as any other group. They, too, want action from government. Because of the failure of the federal government to do its job, protecting our borders from invasion (Article 4 Sec. 4 of the U.S. Constitution), it is up to Arizona to take steps to protect our citizens and taxpayers. Napolitano also vetoed my bill that called for state and local government -- as required -- to enhance and promote English as the official language, and for government to print information and official documents in English (which does not limit communications). The governor supports taxpayer programs for illegal aliens. And why would she not want legal immigrants to assimilate into American society? Migrants used to come to America with a desire to assimilate and learn English in order to be successful and to become Americans. English is part of what makes us Americans.
Unfortunately, common sense went out the door
when Napolitano walked into her ninth-floor office. Since this governor has opposed Prop. 200 and every other attempt to enforce the law, I shouldn't be surprised at her continued effort to coddle illegal aliens. This governor continues to ignore the destruction to our neighborhoods, economic impact and damage to America as she panders to the far left. This governor even vetoed legislation that would allow local law enforcement to remove violent aliens from our neighborhoods. If we are to win the war on the illegal alien invasion -- and especially gang and other violent criminal aliens -- we must insist local law enforcement be actively engaged. We can no longer allow them to sit on the sidelines and be spectators to this destruction. We must give our frontline police officers the ability to control crime in a way they haven't had before. Senate Bill 1306 gives peace officers the right to ask for a person’s residency status and act upon that information in harmony with the federal law and a recent U.S. Court ruling (April 1st, 2005; Muhler vs. Mena). Many of our most violent gangs are made up of illegal aliens. We need to allow police officers to take dangerous criminals out of our neighborhoods More than 4,000 homicide warrants have been issued to aliens that have fled across the border back into Mexico. The MS-13 illegal alien gang operates in 28 cities, robbing, killing, distributing drugs and running prostitution rings while being protected by "Special Order 40." Now that the Supreme Court has decided, isn’t it about time we use our local police force to enforce immigration law? Our governor can no longer say this is a federal problem she can do nothing about. A bill should be crafted and passed that requires police to ask about immigration status, then arrest and deport illegal criminal border crossers. Again, with a friend of the illegal alien sitting in the governor’s chair, I question whether these common-sense tools will ever be used. Home |News |State Briefs |Editorials|Letters |Key Legislation |Privacy Policy |Contact Us
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