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Napolitano has built moderate immigration record
December 6th, 2008 @ 2:15pm
by Associated Press

Janet Napolitano didn't begin her tenure as Arizona's governor focused on immigration, but she gradually built a record of trying to confront the state's vast border woes.

As President-elect Barack Obama's nominee to become homeland security chief, Napolitano has won praise from immigrant advocates for her real-world border experience and a firm grasp on the complexities of immigration, while hard-liners question the sincerity of her efforts and qualifications to run a massive bureaucracy that includes three immigration agencies.

The Democratic governor is a hard-to-predict moderate on immigration. She proposed sending National Guard troops to the border and approved laws prohibiting immigrant smuggling and the hiring of illegal border-crossers. But she has vetoed 10 measures pushed by border hard-liners, most notably attempts to draw local police into the fight against illegal immigration on a wide scale.

``Napolitano is probably the least bad person that an Obama administration could have picked for the job,'' said Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for strict immigration laws. ``She has cultivated a hawkish pose on illegal immigration, which is mostly for show but not entirely without foundation.''

Ali Noorani, executive director of the pro-immigrant National Immigration Forum, said Napolitano understands the country's dependence on immigration and would be a powerful advocate for overhauling border policies.

``She's a measured, pragmatic, principled leader around immigration issues, and she really understands the balance between border trade and border enforcement and how immigration reform is the undercurrent for both,'' Noorani said.

Napolitano won the governorship six year ago when voters were growing frustrated with Arizona's status as the busiest illegal entry point on the U.S.-Mexico border. Tens of thousands of illegal immigrants are caught trying to sneak into the state each year.

Unlike her immediate predecessors, Napolitano faced heavy pressure to confront the state's border problems, even though immigration had long been considered the responsibility of the federal government.

The Democratic governor resisted initial efforts pushed by Republicans in the state Legislature for a state crackdown on illegal immigration, rejected an attempt to make English the state's official language and voiced support for giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.

But her administration conducted crackdowns on fake ID rings that produce documents used by illegal border-crossers, sought ways to reduce the costs for imprisoning illegal immigrants convicted of state crimes and complained loudly that the federal government had to do a better job on immigration.

After declaring a state of emergency because of problems at the border, she proposed putting National Guard troops at the international boundary, four months before President George W. Bush took up a similar idea.

She vetoed a wide-ranging immigration bill that included penalties for employers who hire illegal immigrants, saying it actually created amnesty for businesses because of a loophole. Last year, she signed a different bill that prohibited such hirings.

She opened the door for local police to dig into immigration by approving a state immigrant smuggling law, though only a few law enforcement agencies have used it since its creation three years ago.

But she rejected proposals that would have criminalized the presence of illegal immigrants in the state and given local police the power to enforce federal immigration laws.

The 2005 police powers proposal provided no money for such a new duty, which the governor said would cost Phoenix - the nation's busiest hub for transporting illegal workers - $19 million. ``As such, it is not a real solution to our immigration problems,'' Napolitano wrote at the time.

That same year, she vetoed a prohibition on illegal immigrants attending adult education classes, receiving child care assistance and having cheaper in-state tuition status at public universities.

If she's confirmed as the homeland security boss, Napolitano will be in a position to influence immigration policies that she has railed against.

In the past, she urged Bush to help improve visa systems and guest-worker programs. She peppered the feds with invoices for $500 million in unreimbursed costs for imprisoning immigrants convicted of state crimes.

She told Washington repeatedly that the federal agency responsible for investigating smuggling failed to adequately staff its Arizona operation and had a revolving door of leadership.

Angela Kelley, executive director of the Immigration Policy Center in Washington, another immigrant advocacy organization, said Napolitano's deep understanding of the border and corresponding solutions prepare her well for running the country's immigration agencies.

``To have somebody at ground zero on the immigration issue, that's something we haven't seen before at DHS, and that is very badly needed,'' Kelley said. ``It's a set of experiences and skills we haven't seen before.''

Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado, an ardent advocate for tougher immigration laws, said he doesn't feel comfortable with Napolitano running a huge bureaucracy whose other responsibilities include protecting the president, coordinating disaster response and securing the nation's transportation systems.

``Outside the narrow field of expertise that she has, there is absolutely nothing that I can think of that would make me feel good about her position there,'' Tancredo said.

T.J. Bonner, president of a union representing Border Patrol agents, was encouraged by Napolitano's nomination. ``She's a border state governor who clearly has the knowledge of the problems being faced,'' he said. ``And more importantly, she understands about the criminal aliens coming across.''

``Philosophically, we're not that far apart,'' Bonner added. ``She's for strong security and worksite enforcement. We do disagree on what to do with people who are currently in the country illegally.''

Chris Simcox, founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, a volunteer border-watch group, questioned Napolitano's qualifications, but said Napolitano might be the right person to bring the National Guard back to the border after troops were pulled out this summer.

Shortly after she emerged as Obama's top pick for the job, Napolitano said Guard troops should be sent back to the border, though she wouldn't say whether she will work to get them back there if she becomes the homeland security boss.

``I don't have a lot of faith in her, but maybe she'll be tough,'' Simcox said. ``I'll give her a fair chance before I start criticizing her.''


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