Thread: 'Anti-amnesty' sheriffs harbor no ill feelings for Kyl

'Anti-amnesty' sheriffs harbor no ill feelings for Kyl
Jul. 1, 2007 12:00 AM

The Senate bill to legalize millions of illegal immigrants is dead.

But the issue remains very alive.

Just ask the sheriffs who stood with Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., in a powerful TV ad last fall that warned against "amnesty" for immigrants.
The lawmen deal daily with the fallout from the smuggling of immigrants into the state.

The irony is that the immigration bill, which Kyl had a big hand in crafting, went down because critics said it amounted to amnesty in allowing 11 million to 12 million illegal immigrants to remain in the country legally.

Whether Kyl retreated on his 2006 campaign pledge to fight amnesty has been debated on local talk radio. The bill has cost him the support of some conservatives. His response: This wasn't the bill he would have written, but the alternative was to do nothing or get a worse bill in a Democratic-controlled Congress.

In a column in last Sunday's Viewpoints, the candidate Kyl defeated in the 2006 Senate race, Democrat Jim Pederson, suggested that he and Kyl were pretty much on the same page on immigration reform, inferring that Kyl had come a long way from that campaign ad attacking Pederson on amnesty.

That view is not shared by three of the five sheriffs who stood with Kyl in the ad and were available for comment last week. They still stand with Kyl.

"From talking to Senator Kyl, I don't think he's gone back on his word," said Yuma County Sheriff Ralph Ogden. "He is trying to figure a way to get something done, rather than sitting back and wringing his hands."

Yavapai County Sheriff Jim Waugh sympathized with Kyl, saying he was dealing with the cards he'd been dealt - a Democratic Congress.

"What he's trying to do is make the best of a bad situation," Waugh said. "Do I support amnesty? No, I do not."

Joe Richards, who served 32 years as Coconino County sheriff before retiring near Flagstaff, said the idea of a guest-worker program may have been synonymous with amnesty for some people.

Like the other two sheriffs, Richards said Job 1 ought to be getting control of the border before tackling such issues as providing legal status.

"I don't strongly disagree there needs to be a comprehensive bill," he said. "But comprehensive means we need to start with a fence (along the border). I understand more than a year ago they allocated monies for a 700-mile fence.

"To my knowledge, they have not put up one strand of wire or 1 square foot of that fence."

Waugh suggested Congress approach immigration with two bills: one that secures the border and, if that happens, another that deals with the illegal immigrants here.

"Until you secure the border, you're shoveling sand against the tide," he said.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepubli ... 0701.html#

Border Patrol won't forgive him.

I heard that all the people who spent hours campainging for the sucker are really pissed off.

Originally Posted by saveourcountry

Border Patrol won't forgive him.

I heard that all the people who spent hours campainging for the sucker are really pissed off.

If anyone who supported him is pissed off.......and particularly those in law enforcement........Kyl has nobody to blame but himself.

IMO Sheriffs Ogden and Waugh were being very gracious and generous in their remarks.

Attempts can be made to try and explain, or justify, Kyl's actions until the cows come home....or, in this case, until the illegals go home....but the fact remains is that Kyl participated.

He was 100% involved in the secret, closed door drafting of this thing. He willingly collaborated with those who have no business whatsoever dictating anything in terms of how this country will do things....including a group who makes no secret of their hatred toward Americans and what their plans are for this country and the overthrow of our government. He willfully engaged in a plan to deceive his colleagues and skirt the process, to sell out the American people and destroy this nation.

He could've walked away from all of it, at any time. He could have spoken up and alerted someone, anyone, of what was going on. He could have defended those who were in opposition when the name calling started. He didn't do any of that.

And now, everybody is supposed to just pat Kyl on the head, tell him that's okay, they understand that he was just trying to do something instead of nothing?

I don't think he can expect much of that, or forgiveness, from BP or other law enforcement personnel.

'Anti-amnesty' sheriffs harbor no ill feelings for Kyl

He may not harbor ill feelings but I hope the voters of Arizona do!