Phoenix mayor calls for prompt immigration reform in DC speech
August 21st, 2008 @ 9:44am
by KTAR.com

Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon said Thursday there's been enough talking about immigration reform and it's time for Congress to act.

Gordon, in a speech to the Police Foundation Conference in Washington, D.C., said immigration laws and their enforcement are the responsibility of the federal government and its failure to act is placing an undue burden on cities and local law enforcement.

He also continued his verbal battle with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, saying the sheriff has used racial profiling in cracking down on illegal immigrants. Gordon said he still is waiting for a response from the U.S. Department of Justice on his request for an investigation of Arpaio for civil rights violations.

The mayor was accompanied by Julie Erfle, the widow of a Phoenix police officer who was shot and killed last September by an illegal immigrant who had been deported, but returned to the United States.

``When this nation was founded, no one ever conceived or imagined that immigration enforcement was an issue that would ever fall to mayors and local police departments," Gordon said. ``But, because of federal neglect, here we are. As the federal government continues to do less with more -- cities are forced to do more with less."

In Phoenix, 100 of 600 new police officers being hired are directly related to crimes associated with immigration, such as smuggling, kidnapping and other felonies, Gordon said. He said the city also spends millions in booking costs to jail illegal immigrants, to police and patrol demonstrations on both sides of the immigration issue, to take down drop houses and to investigate kidnappings stemming from human smuggling operations.

Phoenix Police policy, Gordon said, has been to protect illegal immigrants who might be witnesses to major crimes, such as murders or rapes, instead of referring them to immigration authorities for deportation.

``But our job has been made tougher because of a sheriff who doesn't (protect the innocent)," Gordon said. ``Instead, he allows sexual assaults, homicides and other serious crimes to go unsolved -- by arresting victims and witnesses and sending them to jail for violating immigration statutes.

``Targeting illegal immigrants who have not broken a single law since they crossed the border comes at too high a cost for our communities," Gordon declared.

He said Arpaio ``has filled a political void created by the utter neglect and inaction on immigration issues by Congress and the President -- and he has exploited that void to suit his own political needs."

Gordon called upon Congress and the President ``to make the dual issues of border security and immigration reform their first order of national business." He invited investigative journalists and other members of the media to come to Phoenix ``and shine a light on the intolerant few" by reporting on ``the racism and hate" which has evolved from the federal government's failure to take responsibility for immigration laws.

Gordon said he accepted an investigation from the U.S. Conference of Mayors to head up a Task Force on Immigration Reform with one caveat.

``No more studying. No more hearings. No more task forces. No more white papers and executive summaries lining the shelves of Congress. This is an issue that has already been studdied and studied and studied some more. Now it's time for action."



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