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THE MAIN ISSUES OF THE CAMPAIGN ARE
SECURING OUR BORDERS Securing our borders is the right of a sovereign nation. The border issue is both a complex and emotional issue. As both a former Border Patrol Agent and Immigration Inspector, I realize what a difficult task this will be to complete. Critics to securing the border allege this issue to be both racist and prejudice, however, I believe that it is neither. Immigration laws are in place for our safety, security and the well being of our families. The Federal government decides how many legal visitors and permanent resident immigrants the nation can allow and adequately absorb/assimilate into our society. When the estimated 12 to 20 million illegal aliens are added to this equation it severely strains the system and impacts not only the economy but the educational system, national health and health care system, the environment, and the security and safety of our citizens. The number of illegal aliens has been growing over the past several decades and since it is such an emotional issue few politicians want to adequately address the problem. Background Information: When President Ronald Reagan was in office he signed the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act. This Act was to legalize the 3 million undocumented aliens, create penalties and sanctions against employers who knowingly hired illegal aliens, and put fences and other preventive measures on the border, and finally, substantially increase the number Border Patrol Agents. Well, it did legalize the 3 million illegal aliens but that was the only part of this Act that was completed. There were almost no penalties brought against the employers, very few miles of fence were erected, and the Border Patrol received only a fraction of the Agents they were promised. This Act was supposed to be the magic pill that was going to solve our illegal alien problem. This Act was a failure as far as curing the illegal alien problem. In the 1990s Operation Gatekeeper was implemented and 14 miles of fence were put in place in California from the Pacific Ocean and continuing east for the 14 miles. The number of aliens crossing in that area dropped off by 95%. The drugs and crime in San Diego, the city directly north of the fence, also dropped. Unfortunately, the illegal aliens just moved east to cross the border.
THE PROBLEM The illegal alien issue is a multi faceted problem and all its ramifications must be addressed. Crime - 40.1% of all inmates in Arizona detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally. - 71% of all apprehended cars stolen in 2005 in Texas, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona and California were stolen by illegal aliens - 63% of cited/stopped drivers in Arizona have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of the 63%, 97% are illegal aliens. - 83% of the warrants for murder in Phoenix are for illegal aliens - 60% of the gangs in Los Angeles are illegal aliens according to a California Department of Justice Report. - In Tucson the gang activity and drug activity has gone up and up and an integral part of this are the illegal aliens. - The cost of incarcerating illegal aliens in Arizona prisons and jails amounts to about $80 million a year (not including the monetary costs of the crimes that led to their incarceration. Environment. Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, the Coronado National Forest and the San Pedro are all areas affected. Jesse Juen, the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) Field Representative in Tucson told a Senate Subcommittee that over the past two years wildfires, caused by immigrants smoking or building fires to keep warm at night, have destroyed about 20% of the riparian vegetation along the San Pedro River in Cochise County. Plastic water bottles, food wrappers, toilet paper, and human feces cover large areas where fences have been cut for the passage of human coyotes. Mr. Juen said the off-road vehicles of alien smugglers often go down steep embankments and motor oil and fuel leaks into streams and endangered habitat. Mr. Bellamy is the Superintendent of the Coronado National Memorial, consisting of 4,750 acres of oak woodland and grassland with 3.5 miles bordering Mexico. Mr. Bellamy told a Senate Subcommittee that human foot traffic through the park by illegal aliens and drug smugglers has created trails the width of roads. Vegetation is trampled to such an extent that steep hillsides have been eroded and much ground laid bare - with litter widespread - like discarded clothing, blankets, food containers, toilet paper and human excrement. Fred Patton of the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument stated that “We’ve now got 300 miles of illegal roads these people have cut through the desert, and thousands of miles of trails they’ve created. We collect over 30 vehicles a year and we measure the trash they leave by the ton.” One estimate that each year 2,000 tons of trash are dumped by illegal aliens. Critics contend that a fence would prevent the natural migration of animals back and forth across the border. The fires and destruction of habitat the illegal aliens and drugs smugglers are doing is causing far more damage than would be done by a fence. Health Care Illegal aliens had 380,000 children born in the U.S. in 2005. 97.2% of the costs incurred from these births were paid by the American Taxpayer. Uncompensated medical outlays for health care provided to the state’s illegal alien population is now estimated at about $400 million a year. Due to the illegal aliens not paying their bills our Level 1 Trauma Centers shrank from 2 to 1 with TMC no longer providing this service. UMC incurred $3.3 million in immigrant unpaid bills in one four month period in 2003. Education Between 1990 and 2000 Arizona’s elementary and high school enrollment increased by 44%. While school enrollment is projected to increase by only 4% nationally between the years 2001 and 2013, Arizona is expecting a 12% increase. Arizona spends $187 million annually to educate illegal alien students in grades K-12 . Employment One of the latest estimates is that one in every 10 persons in Arizona is an illegal alien. Obviously some of these are students, some are incarcerated but many are out looking for a job. Many of these individuals are willing to work for lower wages than are other legal Arizonans and not complain about the working conditions if they are unhealthy or dangerous. Most of the illegal aliens are unskilled and uneducated. These illegal aliens effect the employment of primarily the economically poor including the resident aliens and the U.S. citizens. They either displace the legal residents or cause the wages to go down. I have known several employers who state that “I can’t get people to do this work for this wage.” I believe that most employers just want to compete on an equal playing field. They don’t want to have to pay $15 an hour for a worker when his competitor pays an illegal $5 an hour or less. If the illegal aliens are stopped at the border, employers will be required to pay the resident aliens and U.S. Citizens a respectable wage and their lifestyle and living conditions will improve. With the Employers Sanctions to start in January 2008 and the employer’s possibility of losing their business license, hopefully, this will increase the wages of the poor, stop the draw for the illegal aliens. Final Point The bottom line is that illegal aliens are costing Arizonans $1.3 Billion dollars per year for their education, medical care and incarceration. This does not include all the other consequences the illegal aliens bring with them. This is just too heavy a price to pay for ourselves and our children. FIXING THE PROBLEM. In 1986 we tried fixing the problem by first legalizing those that were here illegally. That did not work and instead of looking at 3 million illegal aliens we are looking at 12-20 million illegal aliens in 2008. This time let us start with the border and employer sanctions then attack the problem of the millions of illegal aliens already here. The Arizona-Mexico border is approximately 360 miles long. In Arizona we have 7 Ports of Entry (POEs) and the traffic through several of these POEs is very heavy. The Immigration Inspectors that work these POEs and the Border Patrol Agents that work outside the entry points are very dedicated and hard working individuals that constantly face a difficult and hazardous task. I also believe that they are not compensated adequately for their work, but be can save that for another discussion. The Border Patrol Agents cannot do it alone without help. This means that they must be given adequate resources both in the form of fences, technology, and manpower. When fences are impractical then the resources must be available. The following are areas that must be addressed if the border is to be secured: 1) In the urban areas there must be a fence. People can get through unobstructed areas and hidden before they can be apprehended. 2) The SBI net (Secure Border Initiative network) must be in place. This consists of towers with camera and detection equipment 3) Sufficient number of Border Patrol Agents that can respond when cameras or sensors do detect illegal aliens or drugs being carried in. To be able to respond in 30 minutes when there is a road 10 minutes from the entry point and a car could easily pick up the aliens and speed off is not adequate. 4) Arm the Border Patrol Agents so that they can go up against some of these coyotes and drug smugglers on an equal basis. An agent cannot go up against a machine gun or automatic weapon with a pistol. Additionally, ensure they have sufficient body armor to protect them. These are not donut salesmen they are going up against but people that will kill them if they get in their way. 5) Use the National Guard to assist the Border Patrol whether it be manning cameras or other high tech devices or other ways to free up Border Patrol Agents to apprehend the aliens. 6) Remind all state law enforcement officers that when they took the oath of office it was to enforce all federal and state laws not exclude the immigration laws. The highway patrol can work hand in hand with the Border Patrol in catching smuggling loads. When I was with the Border Patrol I worked with the highway patrol and together caught numerous smuggling loads on I-10. 7) Encourage state and local law enforcement personnel to receive the necessary immigration training so that they can apprehend individuals here illegally and turn them over to the appropriate federal immigration officials. State and local law enforcement officers need the tools, training and funding to carry out this function. With the Democrats
in charge in Washington, and Governor Napolitano and Attorney Terry
Goddard in charge in Arizona, we have some of the worst crime statistics
in the nation. Arizona leads the nation in property crimes, automobile
thefts, aggravated assaults, rapes, car jackings, methamphetamine abuse,
gang violence and many more. People need to feel safe in their
neighborhoods and at the present time they do not. We have got to
increase funding for law enforcement, pass a comprehensive Victims Bill
of Rights, increase penalties for violent crimes, and fund more prison
beds to prevent Goddard and Napolitano from releasing dangerous
criminals early. You and your children have got to feel secure where you
live and work. If you are in fear, as many people are, because of all
the gang violence, high crime rate, domestic abuse, etc. it seems like
nothing else matters. You are afraid of a drive by shooting, your child
is afraid of being shot at school, a wife is afraid of being beat up,
gangs are dealing drugs in the streets, and more. We have got to start thinking about the victims FIRST before the assailant or perpetrator. The statistics back this up (from the Tucson Crime Statistics). In Tucson vehicle theft in 2006 was 8215 and in 2005 was 6456. Guess where these cars were headed-SOUTH. Drugs possession in 2005 and 2006 resulted in over 4000 arrests with no decrease at all. The primary reason for these skyrocketing statistics involve the increase in gang activity which includes MS-13 and other deadly gangs and the increase in illegal aliens who are involved in these crimes. Many Tucsonan fear for their lives daily because of these elements and we must put a stop to this now. In many venues Tucson is known as the sunny crime capital of America. We need to crack down on the criminals and take Tucson back to the way many of us know it as a beautiful and safe place to live.
A good quality education is one of the great legacies that we can leave our children. In 2007 the legislature increased education spending by $500 million dollars; and over the last 4 years have increased teachers pay and benefits by more than $200 Million dollars. We have three of the best Universities in the United States with NAU, ASU and UA. Then why does Arizona rank last in education in the United States in grades K-12? This is not an easy subject to understand or to resolve. The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) program signed into law by President Bush was a great idea if used correctly. The idea was that if we are going to compete in a global economy we must make sure that every child performs to his greatest potential and the teachers must do the same. Several years ago we adopted a tax which would reward teachers who performed admirably. This sounds like a great equation for success. Well it would be except I don’t think many of the administrators had what is best for the children in mind. Arizona’s education is ranked 50th out of 50 states. Here are the problems and what I believe are the solutions. First we must realistically look at the problem. Arizona has a pupil/teacher ratio of 21.3%. This doesn’t sound that bad but when you compare it to the other border states it is pathetic. New Mexico is 14.8%, Texas is 15% and even California is less than Arizona with 20.8%. There is a simple fact that children will learn more with a ratio lower than we have in Arizona. Arizona should not be required to teach the world’s children and therefore if you allowed only U.S. Citizen and Legal Resident Aliens to attend school you would automatically reduce the ratio. Additionally without the added expense of providing a huge bilingual program the money could be diverted to other educational areas. You will always have a bilingual program because you will have legal residents who need assistance in learning English. I believe that if you come to this country you should learn English and if you are in school you should be given help for two (2) years and after that you should be proficient enough. If you are Russian or Chinese student you are not given a two (2) year Russian or Mandarin program to learn English. You would be expected to learn the language and assimilate. If you go to a local school in another country Mexico, Guatemala, Russia, etc. you are expected to learn the language. Additionally, some of the schools are dividing the children up by race for “ethnic studies.” First of all I think that this is discrimination and does nothing but harm and segregate the child. Everyone should be proud of their heritage and should not forget their lineage but to separate the children for this purpose would be like separating the children as Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, etc and must be avoided at all costs. As far as teachers in TUSD, we have some fantastic teachers but, unfortunately, we have some poor teachers. When I was an instructor at the Defense Security Institute in Richmond, VA we had some great instructors, and we had a few bad ones. After several bad reviews by the supervising instructors, the instructors that performed poorly were asked to leave. In the Federal Government, anytime in your career if you received several poor ratings you could be asked to leave. Realizing the power and pressure from the National Education Association and the Arizona Education Association, TUSD is reluctant to let even the worst of the teachers leave. Teaching is a noble profession and children benefit greatly from a good and nurturing teacher. If you want to improve the system you must radically change your attitude. If you have a teacher that shows his students are learning and improving then reward that teacher however if you have a teacher that is a poor performer then LET THEM GO. I have heard of situations where the principal has made it a policy of “we all do well or noone gets rewarded.” This is the mindset that will sink this boat. If students consistently learn from one teacher and do not learn from another, then get rid of the latter. Arizona is endowed with many children who are eager to learn, therefore let us give them all the benefits that we can. One final comment which involves the Dream Act. The Dream Act is a bill in Congress and has not been passed. This would allow illegal aliens to attend a college or university in the state they are residing, as an in-state tuition student. I believe that this is inherently unfair. Example, under the Dream Act, if you have an illegal alien from Guatemala in Window Rock, AZ and a U.S. Citizen in Gallop, NM and both wanted to attend the University of Arizona, the Dream Act would allow the illegal alien residing in Window Rock, AZ to attend is an in-state student while the legal citizen from Gallop, NM would have to pay out of state tuition. This is unfair and hopefully will never be passed by either the federal government or the State of Arizona.
Over the last several years the Republicans in the legislature passed the largest tax cuts in Arizona history which amounted to $800 Million in total. They also passed tax deductions for parents so they could set aside money for their child’s education. These middle-class tax cuts are great news for parents who make too much for their children to qualify for financial aid. You can deduct, dollar for dollar, up to $1,000 to support a school of your choice. I support these deductions and other Republican principles which allow you to keep more of your money. Republicans want to make every tax dollar count, and if we have a surplus, we want to store it up for an emergency. Democrats look at taxing and spending completely differently. They look at your tax dollars that it is better to get as much as they can because they know better how to spend YOUR money than you do and if we have it let’s spend it. I believe that we should collect the minimum necessary to perform the functions that the state needs to perform, and allow you to keep as much of your dollars as possible. The State of Arizona has no estate tax because of the Republican legislature. We do have many other taxes which some other states do not. States that don’t have an income tax are Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. States that have no sales tax include Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon. These are only some of the taxes and fees you pay as a Tucson, Arizonan: State Income Tax, State Sales Tax, State Use Tax, Tucson City Tax, Tucson Use Tax, Pima County Property Tax (on your house and any car or boat you buy), gasoline tax, cigarette tax, fuel tax, cable and satellite fees, license plate fees, telephone fees and many other fees. The taxes and fees collected come from you, and you should expect these should be used carefully and judiciously. We are a heavily taxed people and we should expect our legislatures to use the funds primarily to do things citizens can’t do like build roads, police, fire, schools, etc. This money is yours and should not be squandered on projects without a good rate of return. As an example of poor spending, one project to help teenage addiction was given a grant of approximately $5.3 million dollars. Instead of picking the four or five best organizations with the best records, the money was given to hundreds of organizations, each of which had officers and an administrative staffs, and therefore, little money got to the teens that needed the help.
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