Poizner takes hard-line stance at the border

Poizner takes hard-line stance at the border

By John Marelius, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Monday, May 10, 2010 at 3:07 p.m.

SAN YSIDRO— Republican candidate for governor Steve Poizner brought his increasingly hard-line anti-illegal immigration message to the U.S.-Mexico border on Monday.

Poizner, the state insurance commissioner, spent three hours touring the border area and meeting with Border Patrol officials followed by a press conference on the pedestrian bridge over I-5 that overlooks the San Ysidro border crossing just inside the United States.

As governor he said he would redeploy the National Guard to help patrol the border, shut off public benefits to people who are not in the country legally and revoke the business licenses of employers who hire them.

“I’m convinced that you can’t build a wall long enough or a fence high enough,â€