Thread: Senate candidates spar over Border Patrol funds

Senate candidates spar over Border Patrol funds
By Heather Clark Associated Press Writer
Article Launched: 05/25/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT


LORDSBURG, N.M. (AP) — Nancy Clopton says she never used to be afraid when checking fences on her ranch near the U.S.-Mexico border, but now she brings along her large dog and a pistol.

In recent years, she's found 80-pound bags of marijuana on her property and illegal immigrants sitting on her back porch demanding rides to distant cities.

"They're very aggressive and kind of scary," said Clopton, who was among ranchers and local officials who met last month with Rep. Heather Wilson in Hachita and Lordsburg.
The ranchers and county officials who deal with violence and vandalism caused by those smuggling drugs and humans across the border in New Mexico's bootheel region say an eightfold increase Border Patrol agents there since the 1990s, and the presence of National Guard troops, have helped cut the number of illegal immigrants moving through the rugged area.

So it's surprising that funding to boost Border Patrol agents has become a major point of contention in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate between Wilson, who represents the Albuquerque-area 1st District, and her opponent Rep. Steve Pearce, who serves New Mexico's borderlands in the 2nd District.

New Mexico's third congressman, Tom Udall, is unopposed for the Democratic nomination for the seat, which is being vacated by Republican Pete Domenici.

The smugglers — called "coyotes" — that cross through New Mexico's bootheel have some ranchers so frightened for their personal safety many will
not speak publicly about the issue and say the federal government needs to provide more agents in the region.
"It used to be years ago the illegals that would come in, they would want to work," Hidalgo County Sheriff Bob Hall told Wilson. "They might come up and ask you for something to eat and then they'd continue on. They would never do anything destructive. This younger generation is where you have a lot of violence."

Hall said about 25 percent of the county's arrestees are illegal immigrants. He described skirmishes his deputies have had with suspected smugglers, including being under fire from snipers hidden in rocky hillsides and suspects threatening to ram their vehicles with their own.

Hidalgo County Commissioner Harold Kuenstler told Wilson the federal government has not been as proactive as it should be in securing the border.

"That is the federal government's job and they're not doing it," he said. "We shouldn't have to pay the sheriff to do their job."

But Kuenstler acknowledged that an increase in Border Patrol agents patrolling Hidalgo County's 88-mile border with Mexico — from 20 in the 1990s to as many as 350 this summer — has slowed the tide of illegal immigrants.

Wilson sees increasing the number of border agents as a key part of the solution. That's why she has criticized Pearce for voting against a Homeland Security appropriations bill last summer that would have added 3,000 new border patrol agents and provide a $770 million increase over the previous year for Customs and Border Protection.

"I believe increasing the Border Patrol is the right thing to do and it largely pays for itself," Wilson said. "I voted in favor of that bill, Steve voted against it."

U.S. taxpayers pay $1 billion a year for health care for uninsured illegal immigrants who seek care in emergency rooms, Wilson said, citing a study done for the RAND Corporation.

But Pearce said his vote against the Homeland Security bill was an attempt to control wasteful spending.

Pearce said the agency spends $187,000 per agent, yet only $21,000 is spent on training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Artesia; once you subtract salary, benefits and equipment, he thinks up to $60,000 per person is unaccounted for.

"They as an agency are arrogant and they spend the taxpayers' money and you don't know where it goes," Pearce said. "This budget is out of control and someone needs to call them on it."

Pearce said he offered an amendment to the bill that would provide 4,700 new Border Patrol agents funded with money that has been misspent by the Transportation Security Administration, which oversees airport security.

Pearce also has criticized Wilson for voting against a bill that would have established federal security standards for state-issued identification and force some states to better identify illegal immigrants.

Wilson, one of eight House Republicans to oppose the bill, called the federally mandated identification cards for U.S. citizens invasive and unfunded, and said they miss the mark in protecting citizens from terrorist attacks.

Wilson and Pearce agree on several border issues, like opposing amnesty for illegal crosses and supporting programs to bring over temporary workers and use technology to identify people who are here illegally.

The candidates have different explanations on why Congress has been unable to move forward on an overhaul of immigration laws.

Wilson says securing the border and enforcing laws already on the books must come before Congress can build consensus for more comprehensive immigration reform.

But Pearce said he believes members of Congress are afraid to tackle the problem and he believes he has already found places where compromise can happen to bring both parties to the table to make comprehensive reform happen.

Clopton and other ranchers say things have improved along the border with the increased agents and troops. Where hundreds of illegal immigrants used to cross each day, now less than a couple of dozen pass, they said.

But no one was ready to say the border is secure.

"It's still a problem," Clopton said. "They don't respect fences. There's lots of vandalism. There's lots of trash. ... It's hard to get anybody to pay a lot of attention to any of our problems because our population is so little down here."



http://www.elpasotimes.com/newmexico/ci_9372692

The easiest way to solve all of our problems

Put up the fence

Attrician through enforcement

No Amnesty

End Anchor baby status

End free Medical care

get rid of our corrupt politicians Dem's and Repulicans that pander to big business and special interest groups

Go after employer's of Illegal Aliens vigorously with massive fines and Jail Time

self deport or 2 years hard labor picking maters an taters then deportation for the first offence 2nd - 5 years, 3rd - 10 years

End schooling of Illegal Aliens

End HUD for Illegal Aliens

End Welfare for Illegal Aliens

End all benifits for Illegal Aliens

Deport moms as well as dads ... sorry, kids gotta go to

It will all end after about a year of slamming offeders...

Whats so damn hard about this