Cochise County sheriff quits border crackdown group

Posted: Feb 11, 2011 1:53 PM PST
Updated: Feb 11, 2011 2:04 PM PST
Reporter: Sheryl Kornman

COCHISE COUNTY, Ariz. - Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever said he's done representing Arizona sheriffs for the Alliance to Combat Transnational Threats.

According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the ACTT "was established in April 2010 as directed by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano as a response to continued violence and criminal activity in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico."

It is an effort to crackdown on illegal activity along the border with the help of local, state and federal law enforcement.

Dever said in a statement issued Friday that he is stepping down because "I cannot buy into the politicization of the whole dang thing."

Dever cited a statement by Allan Bersin, Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection as part of the reason for his withdrawal from an official role in the alliance.

Here is some of what Dever said:

"(Berson) for whom I have great respect in many venues, when touting the accomplishments of ACTT, announced that, in his words, "no mas, no mas" would border crossers be processed without sanctions.

The U.S. Dept. Of Justice is suing the State of Arizona over its efforts to deal with the consequences of illegal immigration and cites as part of its suit the potential for abuses associated with racial profiling.

Then Commish Bersin uses the term "no mas, mas."

How do you say "no more" in Mandarin Chinese, or Farsi, or Russian or any other language spoken by illegal border crossers?

Is there not some profiling or at least stereotyping going on there? And then they throw up a whole bunch of interesting, but meaningless statistics that reflect nothing in terms of quality of life.

I simply cannot be a party to this federal government hypocrisy and duplicity. I'll continue to fight the battle for security, but I won't participate in spreading propaganda based on false statistical premises."

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