Politicians and law-enforcement officials from across the state asked members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs for more funding and more personnel to help suppress violence along Arizona’s southern border on Monday.
Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., John McCain, R-Ariz. and John Kyl, R-Ariz., listened to the suggestions of state and local officials to help stop the surge of violence near the border brought on by an ongoing war between drug cartels. This violence has spilled over into Arizona, making the Phoenix area an epicenter of violence related to drug and human trafficking, officials said.
“Phoenix is in the middle of a perfect storm that could endanger the safety of all of its citizens,” said Mayor Phil Gordon.
Gordon joined Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, Nogales Mayor Octavio Garcia Von-Borstel, Tohono O’odham chairman Ned Norris Jr., Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris, Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik and Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever to testify before the committee on Monday morning at the Phoenix City Council chambers.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio was not present at the meeting, but he submitted written testimony criticizing the city of Phoenix for adopting “sanctuary city” policies restricting immigration enforcement within city limits for many years.
This policy helped allow on the rash of kidnappings and home invasions, which has faced the city in recent months, Arpaio wrote.
“Should it be a surprise that Phoenix is now known as the kidnap capital, after that city and others in close suburbs had Sanctuary City policies in place for decades until just recently?” Arpaio’s statement said.
He stressed the need for tougher immigration laws that would make illegal immigrants co-conspirators in smuggling cases and make hiring illegal immigrants a criminal offense.
Goddard presented a different set of solutions. He said federal law-enforcement agencies should focus more on interdiction of the weapons and money moving into Mexico from the U.S.
This would have a severe financial impact on the drug cartels, Goddard said, making it more difficult for them to carry out elaborate smuggling operations.
“We need to attack all branches of cartel business: drugs, human [smuggling], guns [and] money,” Goddard said, “but especially the money, which has been our weakness, in my opinion.”
Goddard suggested security checkpoints to inspect vehicles going south from Arizona into Mexico, in addition to vehicles going north.
He also asked the committee to look into drafting a law that would count stored value cards, which allow consumers to put a predetermined amount of money on them, as money items subject to inspection by Border Patrol agents. Smugglers are currently using these cards to bring millions of dollars across the border without being inspected, Goddard said.
Lieberman said he was impressed by Goddard’s suggestions, which he said have already been successfully implemented in the federal government’s counterterrorism efforts.
“We’ve found, at a federal level, that some of the most effective work we’ve done against terrorist organizations like Al-Qaeda … has to do with tying them up financially [and] trying to close off the lifeblood of these organizations,” Lieberman said.
Brewer took the opportunity to stress the need for increased border security. Her request for 250 additional National Guard troops at the border was denied by Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Friday, a decision she pleaded with the senators to help reverse.
“I believe fully that if we secure our border, these other problems will go away,” she said to Lieberman after he asked for her thoughts on suggestions to intercept money and weapons moving across the border.
McCain and Kyl were critical of the Obama administration for cutting funding to operations dedicated to fighting cartel violence at the border, especially at a time when border states are dealing with rising levels of crime related to drug trafficking and illegal immigration.
“Additional action is needed,” McCain said. “Failing to do so would put our citizens in danger.”
Reach the reporter at derek.quizon@asu.edu.
