Arizona lawmakers: Police must enforce immigration law

Jacques Billeaud THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


PHOENIX -- Many local police agencies in Arizona, the busiest illegal entry point on the nation's porous southern border, don't want the added responsibility some Arizona lawmakers want to give them to enforce federal immigration laws.

They say it's already the responsibility of the federal government and that such a massive undertaking would detract from their traditional
roles in protecting communities from crime.

But some Arizona lawmakers say the federal government isn't doing enough about the thousands of people who sneak across the border each year.

A proposal in the Arizona Legislature would authorize state and local police agencies to investigate and apprehend illegal immigrants. It also would let local police transport migrants to detention centers across state lines.

The law does not draw a distinction between criminal migrants and otherwise law-abiding migrants.

More than any other state in recent years, Arizona has been dogged by a heavy flow of illegal immigrants after the government tightened enforcement in El Paso, Texas, and San Diego during the mid-1990s.

Even though immigrants provide the American economy with cheap labor, Arizona and other border states shoulder huge health care and education costs for illegal workers and their families. Frustrated lawmakers in Arizona have proposed several bills this year aimed at confronting illegal immigration.

Nearly a month ago, Gov. Janet Napolitano signed a bill into law that gives local police the power to arrest migrant smugglers but doesn't provide additional money to do it.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D5.
link:
Arizona lawmakers: Police must enforce immigration law

Jacques Billeaud THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


PHOENIX -- Many local police agencies in Arizona, the busiest illegal entry point on the nation's porous southern border, don't want the added responsibility some Arizona lawmakers want to give them to enforce federal immigration laws.

They say it's already the responsibility of the federal government and that such a massive undertaking would detract from their traditional
roles in protecting communities from crime.

But some Arizona lawmakers say the federal government isn't doing enough about the thousands of people who sneak across the border each year.

A proposal in the Arizona Legislature would authorize state and local police agencies to investigate and apprehend illegal immigrants. It also would let local police transport migrants to detention centers across state lines.

The law does not draw a distinction between criminal migrants and otherwise law-abiding migrants.

More than any other state in recent years, Arizona has been dogged by a heavy flow of illegal immigrants after the government tightened enforcement in El Paso, Texas, and San Diego during the mid-1990s.

Even though immigrants provide the American economy with cheap labor, Arizona and other border states shoulder huge health care and education costs for illegal workers and their families. Frustrated lawmakers in Arizona have proposed several bills this year aimed at confronting illegal immigration.

Nearly a month ago, Gov. Janet Napolitano signed a bill into law that gives local police the power to arrest migrant smugglers but doesn't provide additional money to do it.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D5.

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