Bipartisanship can secure our border
by U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords - Oct. 28, 2010 12:00 AM
Special for the Republic
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About 463,000 people - the equivalent of the population of Mesa - were arrested by the U.S. Border Patrol in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30.

Nearly 97 percent of those arrests were made along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexican border. The most porous part of that border is in my southeastern Arizona congressional district.


Our state long has been on the front lines of our nation's border crisis. Securing our border requires Arizona's lawmakers to work together. Unfortunately, Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl appear unwilling to take those steps.

Their recent guest opinion for this newspaper ("Border-security funding is only a start," Opinions, Oct. 19) - which criticized me - coincided with the launch of a television ad campaign - which also criticizes me. The ad was paid for by McCain and features our two senators standing side by side. It hit airwaves in Tucson days before McCain appeared at fundraiser for my Republican opponent in the Nov. 2 election.

This unprecedented attack represents a sad reality: Our senators are more interested in party politics than finding common ground on one of the most important issues facing our state. Still, there's no doubt in my mind that bipartisanship is imperative - and possible.

Last month, 412 House members voted to crack down on drug smugglers who use small, low-flying aircraft. My Ultralight Smuggling Prevention Act was supported by 246 Democrats, 166 Republicans and every member of Arizona's House delegation.

Democrats and Republicans alike also called for the deployment of the National Guard following the murder of rancher Robert Krentz. Earlier this month, 1,200 Guardsman arrived in the Southwest, 560 protecting our Arizona border.

But the best example of bipartisanship is the recently passed emergency $600 million border-security bill - the very bill that McCain and Kyl dismissed in their guest opinion.

Their "glass half-empty" take never mentioned that the bill included $255 million for 1,500 new federal agents, officers and intelligence analysts for the Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.

They never mentioned the $108 million to send U.S. marshals and FBI, DEA and ATF agents to the border; the $52 million for surveillance drones, communication equipment and forward operating bases; or the $43 million for prosecutors and our cash-strapped federal judicial and prison systems.

And they never mentioned their vote against an earlier - and $101 million larger - version of this bill when it came before them in July.

When the border-security bill was signed into law on Aug. 13, I called the funding "a down payment" and said "it must be the beginning of an era when the federal government takes its solemn responsibility to secure our border seriously." (These comments, which have been on my website for two months, also escaped the notice of Sens. McCain and Kyl.) But it is misleading to downplay the bill's real achievements; to do so in the form of a political hit piece is dishonorable.

The border state "cred" of Arizona's lawmakers puts us in a unique position to help usher in real progress. Our senators, with a combined half-century of legislative experience between them, should be leading the charge.

I can't think of another state with senators who each wields the kind of national influence as ours. One has twice run for president, and the other is his party's second-ranking senator, responsible for devising the strategy to help fellow Republicans win as many elections as possible.

If McCain and Kyl want to squander their political capital on scoring partisan points, so be it. I stand ready to work with every member of our state's congressional delegation to take the next steps secure our border.


U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords represents Arizona's 8th Congressional District

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