<font size="5"><center>Bush under pressure on influx from Mexico</font size></center>
The Telegraph - London
By Francis Harris in Washington
(Filed: 17/08/2005)
President George W Bush was under new pressure last night to combat illegal migration after another state took drastic measures to deal with the influx from the south.
Arizona became the second state in days to declare an emergency and use special funds to bolster its law enforcement teams on the desert frontier with Mexico.
Its governor, Janet Napolitano, also put the blame for her state's plight firmly on the shoulders of the administration. She said: "Every last bit of this is a federal responsibility. But the government has not done what it needs to do and promised to do."
The extra cash released by the declarations of emergency will pay for police overtime and more crime scene kits, night-vision goggles, riot gear and radios.
Arizona and the other state to declared an emergency, New Mexico, both have Democratic governors facing re-election next year. Their decision appeared to be part of a concerted Democratic strategy to exploit alleged inaction on an issue that concerns millions of Americans. But at least one Republican congressman, Jeff Flake, expressed his support for Arizona's decision.
"As Arizonans well know, the federal government's inability to control the border has been a crisis for some time," he said.
Border officials complain of being swamped by the numbers entering from Mexico. Many of the people are seeking work in America's booming economy. But some are hardened criminals and some Mexican border areas are under the sway of drugs gangs sending their wares north.
The large border town of Nuevo Laredo recently issued a plea for Mexican troops to be deployed to restore order after the police chief was murdered. An opinion poll in the academic journal Foreign Affairs said that 88 per cent of Americans wanted tougher action against illegal migrants, believing that it would aid national security.
More than 10 million illegal migrants are believed to live in the US, equal to the number there legally. The number of illegals is rising by 500,000 a year.
The imposition of states of emergency in the south-west coincided with hints that the issue of migration was rising up the White House's agenda. The Wall Street Journal said the administration was planning to resurrect proposals that would allow many illegals to obtain work permits.
That scheme has provoked strident opposition in Mr Bush's Republican Party, with Congressmen demanding a tougher line.
David Frum, a former White House speech writer now working at the influential American Enterprise Institute, said it would be difficult for the administration to engineer a deal that would unify the party.
"One of the things the White House has difficulty in understanding is how angry the Republican base is about the domestic agenda," he said. "So far they have followed the president because they support his foreign policy and they are grateful for his backing on social issues. But they want illegal immigration to stop."
He and others have proposed that, rather than building ever- longer fences on the frontier, businesses employing migrant workers should face a crackdown.
The administration has proposed instead that America greatly increase the number of short-term work visas for Hispanic migrants but many in Congress viewed the suggestion as a backdoor amnesty. Although the administration's plans were supported by big businesses, which rely on cheap migrant labour, ordinary Republicans remain staunchly opposed.
Some have joined initiatives such as the Minutemen, a volunteer border patrol force which alerts police to the presence of illegal arrivals.
Other local campaigns have included an attempt by two police chiefs in New Hampshire, near the border with Canada, to use the law of trespass against undocumented foreigners. But that initiative was struck down in the courts last week.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai...xi17.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/08/17/ixworld.html
The Telegraph - London
By Francis Harris in Washington
(Filed: 17/08/2005)
President George W Bush was under new pressure last night to combat illegal migration after another state took drastic measures to deal with the influx from the south.
Arizona became the second state in days to declare an emergency and use special funds to bolster its law enforcement teams on the desert frontier with Mexico.
Its governor, Janet Napolitano, also put the blame for her state's plight firmly on the shoulders of the administration. She said: "Every last bit of this is a federal responsibility. But the government has not done what it needs to do and promised to do."
The extra cash released by the declarations of emergency will pay for police overtime and more crime scene kits, night-vision goggles, riot gear and radios.
Arizona and the other state to declared an emergency, New Mexico, both have Democratic governors facing re-election next year. Their decision appeared to be part of a concerted Democratic strategy to exploit alleged inaction on an issue that concerns millions of Americans. But at least one Republican congressman, Jeff Flake, expressed his support for Arizona's decision.
"As Arizonans well know, the federal government's inability to control the border has been a crisis for some time," he said.
Border officials complain of being swamped by the numbers entering from Mexico. Many of the people are seeking work in America's booming economy. But some are hardened criminals and some Mexican border areas are under the sway of drugs gangs sending their wares north.
The large border town of Nuevo Laredo recently issued a plea for Mexican troops to be deployed to restore order after the police chief was murdered. An opinion poll in the academic journal Foreign Affairs said that 88 per cent of Americans wanted tougher action against illegal migrants, believing that it would aid national security.
More than 10 million illegal migrants are believed to live in the US, equal to the number there legally. The number of illegals is rising by 500,000 a year.
The imposition of states of emergency in the south-west coincided with hints that the issue of migration was rising up the White House's agenda. The Wall Street Journal said the administration was planning to resurrect proposals that would allow many illegals to obtain work permits.
That scheme has provoked strident opposition in Mr Bush's Republican Party, with Congressmen demanding a tougher line.
David Frum, a former White House speech writer now working at the influential American Enterprise Institute, said it would be difficult for the administration to engineer a deal that would unify the party.
"One of the things the White House has difficulty in understanding is how angry the Republican base is about the domestic agenda," he said. "So far they have followed the president because they support his foreign policy and they are grateful for his backing on social issues. But they want illegal immigration to stop."
He and others have proposed that, rather than building ever- longer fences on the frontier, businesses employing migrant workers should face a crackdown.
The administration has proposed instead that America greatly increase the number of short-term work visas for Hispanic migrants but many in Congress viewed the suggestion as a backdoor amnesty. Although the administration's plans were supported by big businesses, which rely on cheap migrant labour, ordinary Republicans remain staunchly opposed.
Some have joined initiatives such as the Minutemen, a volunteer border patrol force which alerts police to the presence of illegal arrivals.
Other local campaigns have included an attempt by two police chiefs in New Hampshire, near the border with Canada, to use the law of trespass against undocumented foreigners. But that initiative was struck down in the courts last week.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai...xi17.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/08/17/ixworld.html
