This is all a big scam being used by Nunez. I heard him on the radio yesterday talking about declaring the emergency, but then went on about how he like to see bills granting amnesty to illegals and laws allowing more immigrants into the United States.

He thinks the tough talk against illegal immigration will open up discussions to legalize and open the borders. I like to know how dumb he thinks American citizens are.

www.sacbee.com


Núñez: Declare border crisis
He urges governor to join Arizona, New Mexico in asking U.S. to help defray cost of illegal immigrants.
By Alexa H. Bluth -- Bee Capitol Bureau
Published 2:15 am PDT Saturday, August 20, 2005

As he prepares to meet next week with Mexican President Vicente Fox, Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez is pressuring Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to join his counterparts in New Mexico and Arizona in declaring a state of emergency to help defray the costs of illegal immigration.

"We have to protect and patrol our borders more effectively," Núñez said Friday in an interview on Fox News Channel, but he added, "The federal government needs to do its fair share to reimburse the states for housing illegal immigrants in our jails."

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, both Democrats, declared emergencies in their states to free up federal money and help combat smuggling and violence along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Núñez was joined Friday by state Sen. Bill Morrow, R-Oceanside, in urging Schwarzenegger to follow suit.

"I think the governor should declare a state of emergency because of the impact of illegal immigration in this state," Morrow said on the same Fox News program. "Although I think our motivations are different in that regard."

Morrow agreed with Núñez that the "federal government is not doing enough, and the buck stops there."

But he also supports a state-run border patrol, which another Republican lawmaker is seeking to create through a ballot measure.

"I would absolutely be against California patrolling its own border," Núñez said. "This is a federal issue. We need to urge the federal government to do its job in protecting our borders."

Schwarzenegger earlier this week applauded the other governors' move and did not rule out a similar declaration in California.

"If there is a need," Schwarzenegger said in an interview with KFMB radio in San Diego. "Right now we are having the things somewhat under control, so there was no reason for it yet. But if there is a reason for it, we definitely will do that."

On Friday, Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Margita Thompson said California's circumstances do not justify declaring a state of emergency.

State law "delineates the circumstances under which a governor can declare a state of emergency, and those circumstances just do not currently exist," said Thompson.

Those circumstances include things such as a natural disaster that are beyond the control of local governments, she said.

Thompson also said the governor has written a letter to U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff requesting more border patrol agents for the state.

Meanwhile, Núñez also announced plans to travel to Mexico next week to meet with Fox and other political and business leaders from the state's largest trading partner.

Schwarzenegger has made one trip to Mexico since his 2003 election but has not met with Fox. The Republican governor has been under attack among some California Latinos and in Mexican newspapers since he publicly supported private border patrols but declined to support legislation to give California driver's licenses to some illegal immigrants.