Issue Position: Securing Our Border

Issue Position

Because the federal government refuses to do its job, the State of Arizona has had to step in and show the way in some instances. My four-part Border Surge plan provides for:

* Putting the National Guard back on the border until sufficient Border Patrol personnel are in place.

* Completing the border fence, including much more double-layered fencing.

* Restoring integrity to the federal immigration system by enforcing our current laws.

* Reimbursing the State of Arizona and our emergency health care providers for the burden we have had to bear due to the federal failure to secure the border, including the approximately $150 million annually to imprison criminal aliens.

Illegal immigration is a hidden tax of at least one billion dollars on our state that we have borne for too long.

Definition of a Secure Border
A "secure border" is one determined by facts on the ground and not solely by the amount of money spent, number of officers hired or the passage of time. A secure border is one in which the flow of illegal drugs and illegal border crossers going north is reduced to a minimal amount. It should not be too difficult to agree on a series of border benchmarks (e.g., number of apprehensions at the border, number of resident illegal immigrants, illegal drugs entering our country) that constitute a "minimal" amount.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security ("DHS") already does this to some extent in their annual performance report. This effort should be expanded with state and local law enforcement statistics (e.g., number of kidnappings related to illegal drug and alien traffic). These benchmarks should be put on the internet so the general public can track our progress.

I signed House Bill 2162 that establishes the Arizona Joint Border Security Advisory Committee to analyze these types of statistics.

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