Thread: Panel examines Issues on Arizonas Immigration law

NEWPORT BEACH – While debate over Arizona's new immigration law rages on, a Friday panel of speakers well acquainted with border problems focused on issues that contributed to passage of the measure.

All agreed problems were being addressed inadequately – issues not only of illegal immigrants and the smuggling of illegal immigrants, but also of drug smuggling, violence and death in the largely unpatrolled rural Arizona border area.


Alfonso Valdez, UCI sociology professor and a leading expert in California's gang related activities investigations and drug cartels, speaks during the Lincoln Club sponsored luncheon panel on border control at the Pacific Club in Newport Beach on Friday, May 7, 2010.

ANA P. GUTIERREZ, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Panel examines issues behind Arizona's immigration law
2 hours & 56 minutes ago

In the luncheon event sponsored by the Lincoln Club and co-sponsored by several other Republican groups, the lack of adequate border security by the federal government was a recurring theme.

"It didn't used to be dangerous," said Gary Thrasher, an Arizona rancher and veterinarian in the border area. "We used to like (immigrants) and used them to mend fences and that sort of thing, and then they were on their way to somewhere else."

He said after the 1986 amnesty for illegal immigrants already in the United States, he saw a rougher type from ghettos beginning to cross illegally. He described seeing groups of immigrants carrying backpacks full of drugs across the desert in exchange for being smuggled in themselves.

Thrasher complained that much of the border is wide open, that U.S. Border Patrol agents often don't start tracking illegal border crossers until they're well inside the country – and the subsequent long-distant chases through the desert can be fatal.

"We're chasing them to death," said Thrasher, adding that he's found six corpses himself. "We should be stopping them at the line and not chasing them all over the countryside."

Thrasher also noted that ranchers can be the victims of border violence. Indeed, former Lincoln Club President Richard Wagner told the story of his cousin's husband, Rob Krentz, who was shot and killed in a remote area of his Arizona ranch.

Illegal immigrants account for 9 percent of the state's population, 12 percent of the workforce and 15 percent of K-12 students – giving Arizona the highest percentage of illegal immigrants in the country, Arizona Republic editorial columnist Robert Robb told the Pacific Club audience of about 100.

He said he favored local law enforcement getting more involved with the apprehension of illegal immigrants, but said the Arizona immigration law was poorly thought out.

There's not need for a state law making it a crime to be in the country illegally because it's already a federal law, Robb said. He added that it inhibits police tackling other crimes to require them to pursue the immigration status of suspected illegal immigrants.

"That said, the reaction to the bill makes it sound more severe than it actually is," he said.

Alfonso Valdez, a former Anaheim narcotics officer who specializes in border issues at UC Irvine, said his grandparents came to this country illegally, that immigrants have made considerable contributions to the country – and that he does not support amnesty.

In discussing the role drugs play in border problems, he noted that corruption by U.S. officials plays a role, as do U.S. motorcycle and street gangs who help distribute the drugs here. He also said that while the U.S. has less than 5 percent of the population, it consumes half of the world's illegal drugs.



http://www.ocregister.com/articles/bord ... c=1Contact the writer: 714-796-6753 or mwisckol@ocregister.com

I thought that the bill said it is illegal to be in the state.

He said after the 1986 amnesty for illegal immigrants already in the United States, he saw a rougher type from ghettos beginning to cross illegally. He described seeing groups of immigrants carrying backpacks full of drugs across the desert in exchange for being smuggled in themselves.

DUH! Proves amnesty begat more illegal immigration. NEVER AGAIN!!

ENFORCE & DEPORT!!