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Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2008 11:48 pm Post subject: Obama's transition team scheming with Phoenix Mayor Gordon
An earlier, incomplete version of this story was posted earlier. I wanted to post this version with new important details and with a more accurate title:
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Gordon urges more funds for border security
Scott Wong - Dec. 12, 2008 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon told senior members of President-elect Barack Obama's transition team Thursday that the U.S. government should boost the number of federal agents on the border but also dedicate more money to law-enforcement operations targeting violent crime in urban cities.
Gordon made his comments during a conference call with transition team officials that focused on ways the federal government could better help local governments enforce illegal- immigration laws.
"The public is frustrated with the lack of perceived and actual action by the federal government and have turned to local agencies . . . to address the criminal aspect of illegal immigration," Gordon said after the phone call, which was led by a co-leader of Obama's transition working group on immigration, Stanford law Professor Tino Cuellar.
Others who sat in on the conversation included Daniel Sepulveda, who worked as a senior economics-policy adviser in Obama's Senate office; Isaac Reyes of the U.S./Mexico Border Counties Coalition; and representatives from the Major Cities Chiefs Association, a group of big-city police chiefs.
Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, whom Obama recently named as his Homeland Security secretary, did not participate.
Gordon was asked to join the call in his capacity as the Immigration Task Force chairman for the U.S. Conference of Mayors. It represented his first interaction with the incoming Obama administration since the November election.
In the past year, Gordon has called on Congress to take action on comprehensive immigration reform and lift the burden from local governments that are spending millions of dollars to combat violent, immigration-related crimes.
He reiterated that message Thursday.
"I asked that the administration act quickly," Gordon said, "because even though immigration has moved off the back burner or even out of the kitchen, it is an issue that won't go away."
The mayor has been especially critical of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who with help from federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents has ramped up efforts to arrest undocumented immigrants through minor traffic stops and workplace raids.
Gordon told transition members that such tactics shift law-enforcement resources and attention away from more serious, violent criminals. And they leave immigrant witnesses and victims of human smuggling, murder and other crimes reluctant to talk to authorities for fear of being arrested and deported.
The Democratic mayor said additional funding is needed to strengthen partnerships between federal, state and local law-enforcement agencies that focus on human, drug and gun trafficking in urban cities afflicted by illegal immigration. For an Arizona task force, it would mean more money for Phoenix police, the state Department of Public Safety, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI.
Bill Scheel, a Gordon senior adviser who listened in on the call from Washington, D.C., said the Obama team seemed most impressed with how centrist politicians like Napolitano and Gordon have remained popular among voters while dealing with the politically charged immigration debate.
"Certainly, they are looking for ways to navigate the politics of all of this," Scheel said
Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon said that extremists have seized the immigration issue and that those opposed to illegal immigration have ties to "neo-nazis", "skinheads" and "racist hate groups".
Does that mean ? No , not me .
LOL in AZ we Elect Kick Ass Sheriffs to Enforce the Laws We Vote for And then we Vote in a Mayor that teams up with the ACLU and special Interests that Try to Stop the Sheriff we voted for from enforcing the great illegal immigration laws we voted for .
Don't figure .
I Love this State , such balance . _________________ Elect Common Sense
I wish they would figure out a way that the correction of criminals doesn't cost the taxpayers any money. These guys screw somebody up, and then screw the rest of the citizenry to get them back on track. Of course, nobody wants to hire ex-cons, so they don't really get to integrate back into society. I don't know what the answer is---I guess the state run work programs do return some vale back to society. _________________ "Men of low degree are vanity, Men of high degree are a lie. " David
The absolute nerve and arrogance of Gordon to call for a quick amnesty for millions of illegals when there are ten million Americans out of work. How elitist and incredibly insensitive to the plight of working and micdle class Americans. This guy should be recalled.
Surprisingly, Lou Dobbs did not report the full story on Gordon's alleged "reversal" on illegal immigration, as Lou did not report that Gordon is likely using this to push mass amnesty. Read on:
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Illegal immigration is fueling Arizona's violent crime and drug problem. About 90 percent of illegal drugs come from south of the border. Armed gangs involved in human smuggling have made Phoenix the kidnapping capital of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIAN: Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, who has been accused by border security activists of being soft on illegal immigration, Thursday spoke with senior members of President-elect Obama's transition team. He asked for more Border Patrol agents and more resources for multi- agency operations near the border. MAYOR PHIL GORDON, PHOENIX: One of the most productive things that the new administration and Congress could do is to continue to fund these joint operations, federal, state and local law enforcement, that go after the heads of the monsters.
WIAN: Alleged leaders of the En Fuego operation face up to eight years in prison.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIAN: Also this week, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms announced the arrest of nine people in two Phoenix suburbs on charges of attempting to smuggle more than 100 weapons, including assault rifles, into Mexico for a drug cartel. Lou?
DOBBS: Well, Casey, that's fascinating to watch the mayor of Phoenix. That's quite an abrupt reversal for the mayor, Phil Gordon. He's been an absolute political battle with Maricopa County sheriff, Joe Arpaio. I mean -- Arpaio has been doing more than anyone in the state of Arizona to enforce immigration law.
What's the deal?
WIAN: Well, it -- sure seems as if Mayor Gordon has had a change of tune on this issue because he was criticized very loudly for Phoenix's former sanctuary policies with the police department there. Perhaps this is something that bodes well nationally.
Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano is going to be the new secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Barack Obama says he's going to defer to her to determine how -- how fast they're going to continue to build the border fence if at all and how to enforce immigration laws. Perhaps she'll have a change of tune as well, Lou.
DOBBS: Well, one can only imagine why the tune has been what it's been.
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These guys screw somebody up, and then screw the rest of the citizenry to get them back on track. Of course, nobody wants to hire ex-cons, so they don't really get to integrate back into society. I don't know what the answer is---I guess the state run work programs do return some vale back to society.