Thread: Napolitano makes smaller request for border spending

http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=5932887

Napolitano makes smaller request for border spending

PHOENIX -- A year ago, Gov. Janet Napolitano asked the Legislature to provide $100 million for law enforcement and other government spending to help secure to the U.S.-Mexico border and handle problems related to it.


This year, the centerpiece of Napolitano's border-related budget proposals is a $5 million request for additional personnel for a Department of Public Safety team that targets gangs and illegal immigration.

The DPS team's expanded mission was one of the few border-related spending initiatives that emerged from last year's budget compromise between Napolitano and Republican lawmakers after she vetoed a sweeping GOP-drafted bill that included provisions she opposed.

Napolitano said this week that the federal government's increased efforts along the border makes a big difference in what the state should do.

"It's a very different place than it was," she said.

Napolitano's budget message cited additional Border Patrol agents, prosecutors and immigration judges, deployment of National Guard units along the border, expansion of detention facilities, and installation of radar and other technology to spot illegal crossers.

The state's own spending in the current fiscal year adds up to $200 million when counting a variety of law enforcement missions as well as prison costs, the budget document stated.

Probably because the election is over and she won?