http://www.kpho.com/news/11081347/detail.h...ho&psp=news

Napolitano: Authorities Gaining Control Of Border

POSTED: 6:57 am MST February 22, 2007
UPDATED: 7:24 am MST February 22, 2007

PHOENIX -- Gov. Janet Napolitano said Wednesday that state and federal efforts have strengthened security at the Arizona-Mexico border in the last year and that authorities were moving closer toward getting operational control of the international boundary.

The governor made that statement in response to criticism from some Republican state lawmakers who said Napolitano is paying less attention this year to border issues than she did in 2006.

The critics said the governor proposed $100 million in spending for border efforts last year, but is now seeking only $5 million this year. She also devoted significantly less time to illegal immigration in her last State of the State address than she did in that speech in 2006.

"There is a big difference between this year and last year, and the big difference is the amount of federal resources that are plowed into the Arizona-Sonora border," Napolitano told reporters during her weekly media briefing.

Napolitano noted that the apprehensions of illegal immigrants have fallen in Arizona and that the federal government has put more agents and money into immigration efforts in the state.

"So when the federal government is putting in a billion or so dollars (into border efforts), the issue is should Arizona taxpayers take away from other things they need, like roads and schools, to put a little bit more on top just to look good," Napolitano said.

Republican state Rep. Russell Pearce, the Legislature's leading advocate for cracking down on illegal immigration, recently said he believes the governor doesn't want to get involved further in border efforts.

"She wants to talk tough and do nothing about it," said Pearce, who has proposed a $25 million grant program for helping communities cover the costs of their immigration efforts.

Napolitano said the state still has a role in confronting illegal immigration, as it now does by targeting people who make false identification for illegal immigrants, trying to prevent smugglers from laundering their proceeds and using Department of Public Safety officers to target gangs and illegal immigration. Her budget proposal this year requests $5 million for additional personnel for the DPS team.

The governor said she was "cautiously optimistic" that Congress would pass an overhaul of America's immigration policies.

"I suspect a lot of this would go away at the state level if the federal government would give us a workable bill," Napolitano said.