<table><tbody><tr><td colspan=”2″ width=”70%” align=”left” valign=”top”>by Mickey McCarter
Homeland Security Today</td></tr><tr><td colspan=”2″ valign=”top”>Monday, 20 September 2010</td></tr></tbody></table><em><strong>Focus on urban areas seems to leave rural routes unguarded, Giffords says</strong></em>
The state of Arizona has a 370-mile international border with Mexico.
To secure that border, US Border Patrol has deployed roughly 3,600 agents to the state out of a total of about 20,000 agents nationwide. Yet the area surrounding Tucson, Ariz., continues to see the nation’s highest rates of illegal immigration, drug smuggling, and border violence.
On the face of it, then, it would seem that Border Patrol has 10 agents for every mile of Arizona’s international border. But it doesn’t really work that way. Border Patrol agents have numerous other responsibilities and they patrol within 100 miles of the border. They also have concentrated their forces in urban areas, according to the Border Patrol National Strategy, last revised in 2007.
To combat smuggling on the US southwestern border, Border Patrol will “deter or deny access to urban areas, infrastructure, transportation, and routes of egress to smuggling organizations through checkpoints, intelligence-driven special operations, and targeted patrols,” among other measures, the strategy says.
The deployment of Border Patrol agents in Arizona has led one of its members of Congress to question whether Border Patrol operations are as effective as they could be.
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) initiated a request to congressional investigators at the Government Accountability Office (GAO) last month to examine the problem to determine if Border Patrol were neglecting rural areas, where illegal immigrants have continued to stream into the United States and where Arizona ranchers have seen escalating violence and property damage.
“Despite the statements by some that our border is more secure than it ever has been, legitimate and serious questions have been raised by Southeastern Arizonans about the Border Patrol’s deployment strategies,” Giffords explained in a Sept. 15 statement on the request. “The men and women I represent need to know that our nation’s limited border security resources are being used in the most effective way possible, especially in the rural parts of Cochise County. This is why we are asking for an independent review of Border Patrol deployment decisions.”
Giffords was joined by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, in requesting specifically that GAO take a look at how Border Patrol deploys agents across Arizona. They sought to compare this to how Border Patrol agents are deployed in other southwestern states.
They further asked how Border Patrol strategies for the deployment of agents have increased the rate of apprehensions of illegal immigrants or smugglers in both urban and rural areas in Arizona as well has what actions has the agency identified to obtain operational control of the Arizona border.
Finally, they asked GAO to examine how Border Patrol reconfigures the deployment of its agents in response to spikes and drops in illegal activity along the border.
“Despite significant increases over the past five years in the number of Border Patrol agents and assets deployed to the southwest border, Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector continues to be the primary entry point for illegal immigrants and drug smugglers,” the lawmakers wrote in their letter, dated August 26. “Ranchers and residents in rural areas in particular report an increase in burglaries, home invasions, cut fences, broken water lines, and threats. Recent violence against US citizens in rural areas, apparently committed by smugglers, has added to these concerns.”
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has long recognized that the Tucson sector has become the domination flashpoint for border smuggling and illegal entry into the United States. As DHS has increased Border Patrol agents since 9/11, it has focused the increase on the US southwest border in general and Arizona in particular.
On August 13, President Barack Obama signed a border security supplemental appropriations bill (Public Law 111-230) that funds an additional 1,000 Border Patrol agents, many of which would go to Arizona.
A current one-year deployment of National Guard troops to the southwestern border to support Border Patrol also has allocated the greatest number of Guardsmen to Arizona, which received 524 out of 1,200. Troops went to California, New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas.

Today Giffords for Congress is releasing a new TV ad, “She’s One for Our Side.” In the ad, Cochise County veterinarian and rancher Dr. Gary Thrasher testifies that Gabrielle Giffords is, “the best advocate for border security that we’ve ever had down here,” along the border.

The ad begins airing today in the Tucson market. A transcript of the ad is pasted below.

In July, Dr. Thrasher presented Gabrielle with the Arizona Cattle Growers Association’s annual award for public service in recognition of her work to secure the border.

Since taking office in 2007, Gabrielle has been one of the strongest advocates in Congress for securing the border and fixing our broken immigration system. Along with border representatives from both parties, Gabrielle has fought to:

• Push through $600 million in border security funding for additional Border Patrol boots on the ground, new forward operating bases and new surveillance aircraft.
• Secure the border through measures such as doubling the number of Border Patrol officers and deploying National Guard troops to the Arizona sectors of the border.
• Break down the power of Mexican drug cartels by blocking the flow of money they receive and increasing prison sentences for those who smuggle drugs across the border.
• Establish a mandatory verification system to stop employers from hiring illegal workers in Arizona and throughout the U.S.

TRANSCRIPT of “She’s one for our side”

[Gary Thrasher]

I’ve been harping at politicians along the border, our Representatives, for at least fifteen years.

[Gary Thrasher]

She is the first Representative that has ever listened to us.

[Gary Thrasher]

Congresswoman Giffords has just shown a tremendous amount of energy and compassion for what’s going on out here.

[Text Graphic]

“Giffords pushes for Feds to act on border, Mexico issues” (The Herald – March 15, 2009)

[Gary Thrasher]

She’s probably the best advocate for border security that we’ve ever had down here.

[Text Graphic]

“Giffords helps push through House border bill” (Douglas Dispatch – August 4, 2010)

[Text Graphic]

“Giffords urges government to deploy Nat’l Guard” (Arizona Range News – April 7, 2010)

[Gary Thrasher]

I can talk to her. She’s accessible. She’s one for our side, I’ll tell you that.

[Gabrielle Giffords]

I’m Gabrielle Giffords and I approve this message.

###

by Dylan Smith

TucsonSentinel.com

President Barack Obama signed a $600 million border bill Friday morning.

The product of a merry-go-round process between the House and Senate, the Southwest Border Security Bill will put more agents and equipment on the border with Mexico.

(more…)

Orange County Register

A bill to spend an additional $600 million on border security was passed by the House Tuesday morning, just minutes after the chamber came back into session from its August recess.   The House was called back by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi so it could pass a package of education and health care aid to the states.

“This funding is urgently needed to counter the pressure law enforcement and border communities currently face,’’ said Rep. David Price, D-N.C., who led the debate on the Democratic side.

(more…)

Howard Fischer

Capitol Media Services/East Valley Tribune

The federal lawmaker given the go-ahead to leak in May that the president was sending National Guard troops to the border wants to know where they are.

“We want boots on the ground, not federal foot-dragging,” Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., said Wednesday in a prepared statement.

Giffords said the administration promised to have soldiers in Arizona at the beginning of August. Now, days into the month — and no soldiers on the border — she said no one in the government can tell her exactly when they will be deployed.

(more…)

The U.S. House passed an appropriation for border security culminating in House passage of $701 million in emergency funds, said U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

“The first responsibility of government is to protect its citizens from harm. The Senate failed in meeting this responsibility when it voted against border security funding last week”,” Giffords said today. “It now is the duty of the Senate to quickly approve this funding before it goes on recess. The people of Southern Arizona must not have their concerns on safety and security shunted aside any longer.”
(more…)

Sierra Vista Herald

Candidates for House of Reps, CD 8, were asked to address the following:

1. Please tell why do you believe you are the best qualified among candidates for your position.
2. What do you believe currently is the most important issue facing the winner of the office you seek?
3. Please provide your opinion for or against bipartisanship action in the House of Representatives.
4. If Congress has overstepped its constitutional bounds in making laws and if it did, why?

Gabrielle Giffords
Political affiliation: Democrat
Current employer: The People of Arizona’s 8th District
Occupation: U.S. Representative, CD-8
Age: 40
Home: Tucson
Family: Spouse, Mark Kelly, U.S. Navy Captain and NASA astronaut; step-daughters, Claudia and Claire Kelly

1. I’ve lived up to my promise to fight for the people I represent by cleaning up Washington, including ending the influence of lobbyists and corrupt earmarking. Running my family’s tire company, I know the meaning of hard work and the importance of small business. Since 2007, I’ve successfully pushed for doubling Border Patrol agents and deploying National Guard along the border, passing the new GI Bill and modernizing the VA. To better understand my priorities in Congress and work on key committees, please visit www.giffords.house.gov.

2. Ending Washington’s partisan gridlock. Americans need more leaders who will do their jobs — not simply obstruct progress for short-term personal or political gain. All elected Republicans and Democrats need to start by working together to secure our border.

Border security is national security. I have called for tough border security measures, including more Border Patrol agents and mobile surveillance systems on the border and tough penalties for employers who hire illegal workers. Action by our federal government to secure our border is long overdue, and it’s time for both parties to do their jobs and to do it together.

3. Every year our country gets more divided and bipartisanship feels more like a thing of the past. This isn’t good for the future of our nation and isn’t a productive way for elected officials to work. America’s problems are bipartisan, so our solutions must be bipartisan.

I’m a strong believer in bipartisanship — and not just during election years. The lion’s share of the bills I’ve introduced, like the New Employee Verification Act, a bill to toughen laws governing how employers must verify the citizenship of prospective employees that I introduced with Texas Republican Sam Johnson, have a Republican co-sponsor.

4. Even the smallest government is excessive if it doesn’t work for the people it’s supposed to serve. I fight every day to make government work for Southern Arizonans. That’s why I voted to stop abuses by Wall Street and cut middle class taxes. That’s why I believe we should fix Social Security, not privatize it; BP should be held accountable for devastating the Gulf and the federal government must secure our border. Voters have a choice on Nov. 2. No matter how big the ax we take to government, it won’t matter without leaders who put the people over politics.

The Arizona Conference of Police and Sheriffs (AZCOPS) Local 7077 has endorsed Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.  In his endorsement letter, AZCOPS President Larry Lopez praised Gabrielle’s “support for public safety officers and willingness to listen to [their] concerns.”

AZCOPS is Arizona’s largest association of public safety officers, with more than 8,000 members from 95 local police and sheriffs affiliates. As the “voice for officers in their hometowns,” the Association’s mission is to ensure officers have the tools they need to keep Arizona’s communities safe.
(more…)

by Rhonda Bodfield

Arizona Daily Star Pueblo Politics Blog

After the House passed a bill providing another $701 million in new border security funding Wednesday night, Arizona Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl introduced their own bill Thursday providing…..$701 million in new border security funding.

The House version, co-sponsored by Arizona Democratic congresswomen Gabrielle Giffords and Ann Kirkpatrick and 10 others, would provide a host of improvements along the border, including 1,200 additional Border Patrol agents, another 500 customs and immigration officers, more money for communications and funding for two more unmanned surveillance aircraft.

(more…)

Dear Friend,

Gabrielle Giffords gets it. Arizona’s southern border is in trouble and she’s fighting every day to fix it.

On Saturday, I presented Gabrielle with an award from the Arizona Cattlemen’s Association recognizing her fight to secure our border. I told the ranchers gathered from across the state that if you go visit Gabrielle in Washington as I have, “Don’t wear your boots; take your tennis shoes if you’re going to keep up with her.  She goes like crazy.”

(more…)