Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Obama to have showdown with Arizona Governor Brewer

After weeks of drama and condemnation of Arizona’s SB1070 illegal immigration law the White House has finally agreed to meet with Governor Jan Brewer this week. The law sparked high-emotions on both sides of the issue and even drew criticism from Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

The meeting with Arizona Governor Brewer is set for Thursday at the White House. Insiders say the President reluctantly agreed to the meeting after mounting criticism over his refusal to discuss the new law with Brewer during her visit to Washington this week.

It was Brewer who requested the meeting with Obama and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, the former Arizona governor, the Grand Canyon State governor is seeking to calm fears that the new law will invoke racial profiling.

The newly-scheduled meeting comes after White House spokesman Adam Abrams said Obama's schedule “didn't allow for a meeting” with the governor but said the president “did intend to sit down with the governor in the future.”

Adding insult to injury was outspoken Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce, the Republican who crafted Arizona's SB 1070 and called Obama's treatment of Brewer “an insult.”

“He's willing to have a beer-fest with an officer in Cambridge after he misspoke,” Pearce said on Fox News, regarding the president’s summit held last summer after he blasted a police officer who arrested a black Harvard professor.

“He misspoke on this bill also and he's not willing to meet with the governor of the state of Arizona?” Pearce said.

Obama has been critical of Arizona's immigration law, which will take effect July 29. The president said SB1070 was “misguided” and thought the law could violate civil rights and allow officers to racial profile.

Last week the White House said it's prepared to go to court and block the new law before it becomes law. SB1070 essentially makes it illegal to be illegal in the state of Arizona and allows state law enforcement to ask for proper paperwork of those being questioned in connection of another crime.

The law comes after the state claims they are broke and can no longer afford illegal immigration as the jails and crimes committed are overwhelming the public service sector.

Obama has also indicated he will send 1,200 National Guard troops to the region and asked for more than $500 million to be spent on border security.

“I think it (sending National Guard) is recognition of the violence on the border, which has been really beyond description in some respects, particularly on the Mexico side,” said Senator John McCain (R-AZ).
Arizona Congressman Trent Franks (R-AZ) said, “We have been extremely disappointed in the Obama administration and I believe his effort to send troops to the border is really political cover to blunt criticism he's facing considering this whole issue, that — Arizona's law catalyzed all of that.”


Arizona’s governor said she signed the immigration bill because the federal government has failed to secure the border Arizona shares with Mexico, which has seen more than 23,000 people murdered in the last three years by activities related to drug cartels.


Arizona’s other Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ), said sending 1,200 National Guard troops to the region is a start, but the his state needs at least 3,000 National Guardsmen as well as 3,000 additional Border Patrol officers to secure the Arizona border.


The U.S State Department has also chimed into the Arizona illegal immigration issue. They made it crystal clear that the National Guard troops will be there to decipher the “good illegal immigrants from the bad illegal immigrants,” and will not be approaching the illegal immigrants coming into the country unless they are carrying drugs, guns or are perceived terrorists.


“It is quite amazing to me that this administration and the illegal alien supporters continue to push this line of thought. These are the same groups that criticized the Arizona SB1070 law saying that law enforcement cannot tell who is illegal and who is not. Yet we are led to believe that troops they are sending to the southern border will not only be able to tell who is an illegal alien, but which ones are only ‘coming here to work,’” said Digger’s Realm. “It is just one more slap in the face by our federal government to the American people. All of their arguments lack any logic and I am pretty sure that the majority of American Citizens see what is going on.”


Apparently it was the Mexican government who wanted the troop clarification and urged the State Department to not profile those seeking residency illegally in the United States, but for them to target the criminal element that penetrates the southern borders on a daily basis.


Philip Crowley, State Department spokesman told reporters the troops are, “not about immigration.” He explained the National Guard was “fully consistent with our efforts to do our part to stem, you know, violence, to interdict the flow of dangerous people and dangerous goods; drugs, guns, people.”


The State Department also claimed that there was only “13 million Mexicans living in the United States, more than half of them illegally.” However, the real number of illegal immigrants residing in the country is somewhere closer to 20 million. If you add the family reunification program many open-border activists want to include in the amnesty bill, the number could climb to more than 50 million as moms and dads, brothers and sisters would all seek new homes inside the United States.


Also, President Calderon had this to say at a press conference held during his visit to Canada, “Because the problems that we have of weapons trafficking, of trafficking in illegal money and including impunity of criminals’ operations from the American side were not being duly addressed by the North American authorities, it is therefore to be hoped that the presence of the National Guard will be on the terms upon which we agreed with President Obama.” Calderon added, “They (the U.S.) committed themselves to do their part to enforce the law on the American side and, certainly, not to use the National Guard for immigration purposes and, even less, for the abuse of course, regarding migrants (Migration and migrant are the commonly used euphemisms for illegal entry and illegal alien), according to the M3 Report. http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/683631.html

For more stories; http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-10317-San-Diego-County-Political-Buzz-Examiner

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