WASHINGTON — Local officials and business owners from Southwest border states joined immigration reform advocates in the nation’s capital Wednesday in an attempt to sway Obama administration and congressional leaders away from get-tough measures on the border.
The message ran counter to a beefed-up border security plan proposed by Republican Arizona Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl in April, and to some of the measures suggested in the framework for comprehensive immigration reform legislation that Senate Democrats recently unveiled.
The GOP senators’ plan includes deployment of 3,000 National Guard troops along the Arizona border, completion of a 700-mile border fence, and use of military technology on the border, including 24-hour surveillance by unmanned aerial vehicles.
Senate Democrats also projected a get-tough stance on border enforcement in a framework for comprehensive immigration reform unveiled late last month. The plan called for increased numbers of Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and improved technology on the border before offering a path to legalization for the millions of illegal immigrants already living in the United States.
But the officials who traveled to Washington from Arizona and Texas said perceptions of crime and violence on the U.S. side border are overblown. The real need is for increased resources to stop smugglers and facilitate legal traffic and commerce at the ports of entry, they said. They and Washington-based advocates called for immigration reform concurrent with, not after, securing the border.
National Immigration Forum executive director Ali Noorani said the group is troubled by some aspects of the Democrats’ proposed immigration reform framework.
“We are concerned that as that framework moves into legislation, it will fall down the usual traps in the border debate — more Border Patrol officers, more structures along the border,” he said.
John David Franz, mayor of Hidalgo, Texas, said despite the drug-cartel fueled violence raging on the Mexican side of the border, his community has little crime.
“Before you start throwing money at the border, make sure it is based on sound underlying facts that justify the expenditure,” Franz said. “We have more Border Patrol, more ICE agents on the border than ever before, and they’re doing a great job… We certainly don’t need National Guard troops on the border.”
Karin Uhlich, a city council member in Tucson, Ariz., agreed with Franz and also spoke in opposition to a tough state law targeting illegal immigrants that has drawn nationwide attention to Arizona in recent weeks. City councils in the Arizona cities of Tucson and Flagstaff have voted to sue the state in an effort to overturn the law.
Views on the issues of immigration and border security differ in Frederick.
State Del. Charles A. Jenkins, R-Frederick, said he was “incredulous” at the assertion that reports of crime and other issues on the border are overblown. He supports toughened enforcement, including troops on the border.
“I think we need to get serious about (border enforcement),” he said. “I think we need to put the military down there. I applaud the Minutemen and their efforts. This country is under attack.”
Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins said the area has seen its own share of problems that he attributed to illegal immigration, including the arrival of gangs like the Latin Kings and MS-13.
Karl Bickel, who is running against Jenkins for sheriff, disagreed.
“I think that the first and most important thing is there shouldn’t be a kneejerk reaction,” he said. “Any measures that are contemplated shouldn’t be measures that are based on emotion and rhetoric – they should be based on actual fact.”