Thread: McCain: Border security better---needs more improvement

McCain: Border security better---needs more improvement

Posted: Mar 24, 2011 8:33 PM CDT
Updated: Mar 25, 2011 10:37 AM CDT

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McCain: Border security better---needs more improvement
2:39

Reporter: Craig Smith
Web Producer: Layla Tang

TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - Border security is better but still has a long way to go. That was the message as U.S. Senator John McCain and four members of Congress commented on their tour of border areas Thursday.

It's close to a full year since someone murdered rancher Robert Krentz on his ranch in Douglas, near the border. No one has been charged with his death, and it's become a strong symbol of the feeling the border is far from secure. Senator McCain and four Republicans who represent Arizona in the U.S. House toured the border and made a point to meet with the Krentz family.

"We met with his widow, Sue, his brother Phil, and other ranchers and I can tell you, they don't believe that the border is anywhere near secure," said Congressman Jeff Flake.

Senator McCain says border safety is improving but still needs plenty of work. Just as KGUN 9 News recently showed the strong progress in Border Patrol's Yuma sector, Congressman Jeff Flake, for example, pointed to the Yuma sector's effective fencing, good staffing and strong apprehension rate as something to work for here in the Tucson sector.

Senator McCain opposes the plan to remove National Guard troops, until many more Border Patrol agents are in place.

"Gentlemen, when you talk about keeping the National Guard in place until there are replacement resources, what are we talking about in terms of time and money to achieve that?" KGUN9 reporter Craig Smith asked Senator McCain and the Congressmen.

"If we implemented the ten-point plan that we're all gonna reintroduce we could, within a year to two years, have our border secured if we did all the things that are necessary," Sen. McCain said. That ten-point plan adds troops, technology, and funding, but Sen. McCain says more money for the border can be a tough sell for his fellow lawmakers.

"For example, when I tell my colleagues there are 75 or 100 scouts on mountaintops through out our state, guiding drug smugglers, they find that hard to believe. So we're going to have to convince our colleagues in Congress to take action even if the President is not as cooperative as we want him to be," McCain added.

Visiting El Salvador this week, President Obama reinforced his interest in immigration reform to help encourage and manage legal immigration. Senator McCain says he was pleased to hear that. He did not make it clear whether he's willing to work on immigration reform along with efforts to beef up border protection or whether he'll insist on addressing the border first.

http://www.kgun9.com/global/story.asp?s=14318441

McCain says ending Guard's mission is ill-advised

Associated Press - March 25, 2011 10:14 AM ET

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - Sen. John McCain says pulling the National Guard from Arizona's stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border is ill-advised.

McCain told reporters Thursday the work the National Guard has been doing along the border is vital and needs to be increased rather than decreased.

The Arizona Daily Star says the 560 soldiers in Arizona represent nearly half of the 1,200 troops President Barack Obama authorized in May for active duty along the U.S.-Mexico border. The mission is part of the Obama administration's overall border-security plan.

The National Guard border mission began in August and is scheduled to end in June.

http://www.kgun9.com/global/story.asp?s=14320761

END BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP and all the benefits and perks (jobs etc) for Illegals and we probably wouldnt need half the border patrol agents that we do...

Its like trying to keep a child out of a room filled with Pinatas and candy sculptures with a low glass divider. If the child sees it and wants it bad enough they will find a way to get to the candy...But, if you take away the candy and pinatas or block them from view the child wouldnt make half the effort (endanger their own lives even) to get to the candy...


END BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP ASAP TO STEM THE FLOW OF ILLEGALS...