Thread: Sonora will establish checkpoints on four state highways

Leaders focus on border security
By Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services
August 20, 2005
NOGALES, Ariz. - Gov. Janet Napolitano launched her own program Friday to make the border safer and more secure, building on a recent agreement with her counterpart from the Mexican state of Sonora.

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Napolitano and Sonora Gov. Eduardo Bours said Friday they have run out of patience with the inability of their federal governments to stop illegal immigration.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety will set up a task force to find stolen vehicles heading for Mexico.
Bours said Sonora will establish checkpoints on four state highways to discourage human smugglers from bringing illegal immigrants north.

At a joint news conference Friday on the Arizona side of the international border, Napolitano rolled off statistics showing a sharp increase this year in stolen cars, assaults on border patrol officers and deaths of migrants in the desert.
She said the U.S. govern- ment is "falling short’’ in its responsibility for border safety. She cited the $217 million the federal government owes Arizona for the cost of incarcerating people who crossed the border illegally and then committed state crimes.

While states are supposed to be able to recover those costs, Congress has failed to appropriate enough to cover the bill.

Bours said Mexican authorities have been slow to respond to the problems created in his state by migrants from the rest of the country â€â€

News Update
Mesa police hunt pair for firing at officers
By Jackie Leatherman, Tribune
August 21, 2005
Mesa police continued to search Saturday for two men who ran away after shooting at officers and crashing into a house during the night.

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When police attempted to pull over a black BMW about 2:30 a.m. at Second Street and Beverly for driving erratically and having a fictitious license plate, a passenger fired multiple times through the side window of the car, police spokesman Chuck Trapani said. The driver apparently lost control, causing the car to crash into a house in the 200 block of North Beverly, causing minor damage to the residence.

Police conducted a door-by-door search until 7:30 a.m. "Either they slipped through the perimeter or they are holed up somewhere," Trapani said.

Trapani said the passenger could have facial injuries based on the damage to the windshield.

The men are described as Hispanic between 20 and 25 years old and one was wearing a white T-shirt and dark shorts. Both are considered armed and dangerous, police said.
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