Thread: McSally: Border security a top priority, first order of business

By Simone Del Rosario. CREATED Jan 10, 2015

TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - In her first day back in Southern Arizona as congresswoman, Martha McSally toured the border with top commanders and chiefs in Customs and Border Protection.

McSally has said border security is a top priority and she currently serves on the Homeland Security Committee.

On her first trip to the border as a congresswoman, McSally took an aerial tour and spoke with ranchers living along the border.

She spoke to 9OYS over the phone following the tour. She said the biggest hole in border security is access.

"Access to the border is a challenge to border security; sometimes there's not a road that can even get them in that area," McSally said.

She told 9OYS she would like to see more agents making apprehensions closer to the border. Her concern, after speaking to local ranchers, is illegal activity shuffling through their ranches first.

"As the illegal activity passes through, it puts their families and their property at risk," she said.

It's these observations McSally plans to bring back to Washington, but she plans to invite others from the Homeland Security Committee to see it firsthand in the next couple of weeks.

McSally called border security a uniting issue, but Juanita Molina of Border Action Network disagreed.

"The border is secure," Molina said. "You see Border Patrol, a huge presence on the U.S.-Mexico border, and the question is: Is increasing militarization really the solution to creating a safer border?"

Molina said Border Patrol's presence has divided communities.

"I want to be able to have a full perspective of what's happenign out there and make sure I take all perspectives into consideration," McSally said. "So it's certainly my intent to reach out to those groups to have that perspective."

Looking forward, the freshman congresswoman said she plans to bring forward a border security bill in the next few months.

http://www.jrn.com/kgun9/news/McSall...288175951.html

McSally called border security a uniting issue, but Juanita Molina of Border Action Network disagreed.

"The border is secure," Molina said. "You see Border Patrol, a huge presence on the U.S.-Mexico border, and the question is: Is increasing militarization really the solution to creating a safer border?"

Molina said Border Patrol's presence has divided communities.

Uh yes, increasing border patrol operations on the border is the only solution to securing the border. No it would likely not be safer for illegal aliens, smugglers and drug traffickers, who are obviously the constituency of the "Border Action Network".

As to dividing communities, yes, that is the purpose of the US territorial border, to divide our country from neighboring countries and that would include their respective "communities".