Thread: Lawmakers tour Mexican border

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Lawmakers tour Mexican border
Overnight visitors include members of Minutemen

By Fernando Quintero, Rocky Mountain News
October 5, 2005

COCHISE COUNTY, Ariz. - A short, rusty barbed-wire fence that runs along a dry riverbed is all that separates the United States from Mexico in this remote corner of the desert.

"It's not much of a fence, is it?" said state Rep. David Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs. "Come one, come all."

Schultheis was joined Tuesday by state Reps. Jim Welker, R-Loveland, and Bill Crane, R-Arvada, on the second day of their visit to Arizona, which will include overnight visits to the border with members of the Minuteman Project. Minuteman volunteers observe illegal border crossings and report their findings to federal border patrol officials.

The three Colorado lawmakers are on a fact- finding mission in preparation for a push in the legislature or possibly the voting booth to eliminate or limit services to people in the United States illegally.

Schultheis formed a Republican study committee to examine the costs of illegal immigration to the state, including money spent on health care, education, and prisons. That followed his unsuccessful bid last year to form a bipartisan committee to examine these issues as well as the failure of his other bills aimed at addressing illegal immigration.

Most of Tuesday was spent touring an area known as a drug smuggling route about 25 miles southeast of Sierra Vista in southeastern Arizona.

The lawmakers took handguns, but disarmed when they walked along the fence because federal regulations restrict the use of arms along the border.

The tour was organized by Glenn Spencer, whose home is about 1,000 feet from the border. He recently organized a number of border-watching activities, including a few with the Minuteman group.

Spencer said he had been a military researcher who worked at the Pentagon before moving to Arizona to set up a nonprofit group that investigates illegal immigration.

He showed aerial photographs and videos of immigrants crossing the border illegally near his home. He also showed visitors a miniature reconnaissance plane with a camera attached to it that he spent $40,000 to develop and build.

"We do this to expose the malfeasance of U.S. border patrol officials, who have failed us in protecting our borders," he said. "What can U.S. citizens do to help? A lot."

Spencer also told the Colorado legislators and a group of Republican political candidates from Arizona about a volunteer who crossed the border into Mexico and brought back a "simulated weapon of mass destruction."

"We did it to see if anybody would try to stop us," Spencer said. "This happened supposedly along the most heavily policed border area in the United States."

Welker said seeing the vulnerability of the border firsthand, and listening to stories about the growing number of illegal crossings, demonstrated the severity of problems with U.S. immigration policy and the lack of security.

"Aside from the cost factor, there is the cost to our culture," Welker said.

"It was tradition in America to learn our history, learn English, and become a productive citizen. With so many illegal aliens coming in so fast, we can't assimilate all that. It's become a big mess," he said.

I see there are activists who cross illegally into Mexico and then illegally back to show the porosity. It makes me wonder how much longer it will be before a few protestors enter Mexico to solicit work without any Mexican authorization. Broadcasting the summary arrest, incarceration and deportation by Mexico would get a lot of America's currently undecided, uncommited viewers on the correct side.

http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_3087515

Article Launched: 10/05/2005 01:00:00 AM

Border tour reinforces beliefs
Legislators visit Ariz. desert in campaign against illegal immigration Colorado representatives plan a ballot initiative and legislation to curb access to public services.
By Elizabeth Aguilera
Denver Post Staff Writer


Cochise County, Ariz. - An uneven dirt road widened as it turned near the San Pedro River and up to a barbed-wire fence marking the U.S.-Mexico border for Colorado legislators and their Arizona guides Tuesday.

Several members of the group, including Colorado Rep. Jim Welker, crossed the river on the U.S. side and climbed an embankment to see the trail that authorities say is a major path into the United States for undocumented immigrants.

"If we want to get serious about protecting our borders, we have to use the military," Welker said as he peered into Mexico.

"Most of the people coming across are looking for jobs and better lives. Others bring drugs and plan terrorism. Thirty percent are not Mexican, and I worry about that."

Border agents in this area apprehend 1.1 million people trying to cross each year.

A group of Colorado legislators and other officials continued their week-long visit Tuesday in Arizona with a drive into the desert of Cochise County, led by Arizona political candidates and advocates eager to push for stronger policies against illegal immigration.

"This trip has really cemented my thoughts more than before," said Colorado Rep. David Schultheis.

Reps. Schultheis of Colorado Springs, Welker of Loveland and Bill Crane of Arvada are talking to Arizona officials who helped pass Proposition 200, which denies public services to undocumented immigrants.

The trio of Republicans are talking to ranchers and other residents about illegal immigration.

The Colorado lawmakers say they worry about the financial strain of illegal immigration on public services, including health care, which is why they plan to support a ballot initiative in Colorado similar to Proposition 200 in November 2006. It's unclear how much money is spent on undocumented immigrants because no studies have been done, they said.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are an estimated 150,000 undocumented immigrants in Colorado.

Schultheis says a decrease in assimilation among some undocumented immigrants and the large influx of undocumented immigrants in the past decade contribute to the problem.

Said Crane, "We wanted some firsthand knowledge of what is going on down here."

The group plans to support Colorado legislation that would limit services for undocumented immigrants, prohibit them from purchasing homes and penalize businesses that hire them.