Posted at 01:00 PM ET, 10/25/2011

McDonnell frustrated feds haven’t given okay for troopers to train as immigration agents

By Anita Kumar

Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) said Tuesday that he is frustrated that the federal government has not responded to his request from more than a year ago that state troopers act as immigration and customs agents.

“I’m very unhappy with the federal government with this delay,’’ McDonnell said on his monthly call-in show Tuesday on WTOP.

McDonnell sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano in August 2010 asking for the authority after spending months trying to reach an agreement with the federal government to train and deputize troopers to make legal status checks and refer individuals for deportation.

“We believe in the rule of law,’’ he said. “We have laws and they need to be enforced and I think every level of government has got a duty to enforce it. We think the law needs to be enforced at the border, in the states and then we can talk about how we assimiliate people into the culture.â€