Thread: Border Mess: Napolitano dealing with Mexicans again

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/89387.php

Arizona, Sonoran governors taking own steps to make border safer
By Paul Davenport
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PHOENIX - Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano says she and her counterpart from the Mexican state of Sonora are taking new steps to make the border safer and combat border-related crime but that they wish each country's federal government was doing more to help.

Napolitano and Sonoran Gov. Eduardo Bours planned to meet Friday at a border crossing point in Nogales, Ariz.

Napolitano's office said she planned to discuss a new initiative involving the state Department of Public Safety as well as her decision Monday to declare a state of emergency in four border counties and provide local governments in those counties with $1.5 million for immigration-related crime. Meanwhile, Bours was expected to announce steps being taken to counter drug smuggling, violent human trafficking and automobile thefts.

The two governors previously agreed on such steps as preparing a contingency plan and other procedures for emergencies, developing a database on critical facilities, creating a joint command center, trying to find financing for health centers and promoting anti-terrorism exercises.

"Our view is that both of our federal governments have let us down," Napolitano said Wednesday. "His state is paying a price. Our state is paying a price. If we want to facilitate lawful commerce and trade between Arizona and Sonora, we need to make that stretch of the border the safest it can be."

Arizona is the nation's busiest illegal entry point on the porous U.S.-Mexico border.

"Between Arizona and Sonora, our view is you've got to deal with both sides of the border to really enhance the security and safety there," Napolitano said.

Napolitano in July ordered the DPS to assign a dozen officers to assist local police and federal agents in immigration cases, but she said Wednesday that pilot program has been slowed at the federal level.

"We're having a lot of red tape there," she said.

Napolitano and Sonoran Gov. Eduardo Bours planned to meet Friday at a border crossing point in Nogales, Ariz.

It will be interesting to who's pocket will be picked.