Committee discusses illegal immigration
Lawmakers must pay attention to border-security issue despite state's budget woes, Pearce says
by Matthew Benson - May. 22, 2009 12:00 AM

Focus has been on the state's budget woes for months, but a legislative panel redirected its attention Thursday to illegal immigration.

The Senate Appropriations Committee, led by border-hawk Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, spent nearly eight hours discussing the costs associated with lax border security and hearing testimony from law-enforcement officials and victims of illegal immigration.

"It's easy to let this issue fall aside with our budget and other issues," Pearce told onlookers. "But I can't let that happen. We must remain vigilant."
Arizona has been in the headlines of late as violence related to Mexico's warring drug cartels threatens to spill into the state. Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas told lawmakers that, between 2004 and 2008, his office saw a 402 percent increase in cases for prosecution involving drophouses and kidnappings. The vast majority of such crimes have been committed against individuals tied to drug and human smuggling, but authorities worry that innocent people may increasingly be targeted.

Pearce called Thursday's hearing a "call to action" for Arizona lawmakers to take up the mantle for border security.

"It is causing danger to our law enforcement, danger to our citizens," Sen. Sylvia Allen, R-Snowflake, said of the illegal-immigration threat. "We need to be made aware that it's becoming more violent."

Border legislation has been on the backburner thus far this year, but proposals that may yet be considered include efforts to bar communities from limiting their enforcement of immigration law, declare undocumented immigrants guilty of trespassing and further crack down on employers of illegal workers.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepubli ... y0522.html