Thread: AZ border residents, DHS officials hold dialogue

AZ border residents, DHS officials hold dialogue

By ARTHUR H. ROTSTEIN
Associated Press Writer
June 18, 2009 - 8:59 p.m. PDT

TUCSON, Ariz. — Alan Bersin, the Obama administration's border czar, said Thursday the key to achieving comprehensive immigration reform rests with a secure border.

"The only way we believe we will have immigration reform is if we have strong enforcement," Bersin, assistant Homeland Security secretary for international affairs, told a border communities task force.

Bersin, who is in charge of illegal immigration and border issues, said strong enforcement at the border, in the work place and in the interior is vital "so that the American people come to believe that there are labor markets that work, that there are communities that work and that there's a border that works."

He and other DHS officials held a 90-minute dialogue over immigration-related issues with southern Arizona members of a border task force.

Speakers including several clergymen offered suggestions and criticism in particular of the Border Patrol, from the need for a streamlined complaint process and feedback on complaints to an abrupt manner in which agents sometimes toss food at illegal immigrant detainees in holding cells.

The Rev. Mark Adams, a Presbyterian minister, said most Border Patrol agents he knows have rarely drawn their sidearms yet take requalify on the shooting range every three months.

"How often is there retraining after the academy in human and constitutional rights?" he asked.

Sahuarita minister Randy Mayer said because much of the illegal immigrant traffic "takes a path through our communities," residents frequently have to contend with helicopters buzzing overhead, school officials enforce "lockdowns on a regular basis" because Border Patrol agents chase migrants onto school grounds and rollovers of vehicles jammed with illegal immigrants are common on area roads.

"Our residents far too frequently witness the blood and violence" associated with illegal immigration, Mayer said.

Bersin said no border community law enforcement agencies would ever be forced to enforce immigration law to obtain federal funding.

"There are some communities around America that will differ from this community. But those (issues) must be resolved locally," he said.

Santa Cruz County Supervisor Manny Ruiz, chairman of the Border Counties Coalition, and Victor Gonzales of the Douglas Economic Development Office, pointed to the need for a dramatic upgrade to Arizona port infrastructure to meet the needs of 21st century trade with Mexico — which Bersin wholeheartedly endorsed.

Most importantly is the need to keep talking with residents of the border communities and to try to reach a common ground over many of the issues raised, according to Bersin and Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar.

"We are imperfect, as if every community, and we need to understand that," said Aguilar, who was chief of the Tucson sector from 2000 to 2004. "We want to listen. It pains me to hear these allegations" of agents acting unprofessionally or worse, but without names and dates — and often several years after the incidents supposedly occurred.

"We want critiques, and we want constructive criticism," Aguilar added.

Bersin also said there will be some issues where no agreement will be reached.

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/g ... order.html

"The only way we believe we will have immigration reform is if we have strong enforcement," Bersin, assistant Homeland Security secretary for international affairs, told a border communities task force.

Bersin, who is in charge of illegal immigration and border issues, said strong enforcement at the border, in the work place and in the interior is vital "so that the American people come to believe that there are labor markets that work, that there are communities that work and that there's a border that works."

Their only real goal is to take the minimum enforcement action necessary to make the American people believe they are actually enforcing, so they can use it to justify amnesty.