Gov. Napolitano declares AZ border state of emergency

Following the lead of NM Governor Bill Richardson, Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano has declared a state of emergency in four border counties because of lax border enforcement.

Associated Press
Aug. 15, 2005 05:57 PM

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano declared an emergency Monday in four border counties because of problems related to lax border enforcement and moved to provide local governments in those counties with up to $1.5 million in state funding.
AZ Border

This is two down, two to go. Texas and California will hopefully declare similar states of emergency in the near future.

I see it as a good step, given the reluctance of the federal government to address the border problem. Detractors, however, have already weighed in, saying that it is a political ploy designed to show that Democrats, not Republicans, are the party willing to tackle the tough problems. Napolitano has also been called a hypocrite because she recently voted against legislation that would have required a picture ID in order to register to vote.

Arizona is going broke because of the social costs of illegal immigrants. If Bush and V. Fox will not address the problem, then the states have every right to protect themselves.

Arizona is going broke, like every other state in the union, but it's not fair to say Arizona is going broke because of the immigration.

Partly because of, not entirely because of.

Money is to the state what energy is to the body. The more stages energy goes through before your body receives it, the more that energy is reduced. Every layer of inefficient government detracts from the efficacy of tax dollars and other assorted sources of state revenue.

Every wellfare parasite I've ever known has been 100% homegrown American. I've known a handful of immigrants from a variety of countries, from PR to Mexico, Africa to Australia, and none of them are social parasites.

Place the blame where the blame belongs, in the people and their idiotically elected, shockingly ineffective government.

That's my .02 on Arizona's buget problems.

Originally posted by WyrdeOne
Arizona is going broke, like every other state in the union, but it's not fair to say Arizona is going broke because of the immigration.

Partly because of, not entirely because of.

Well...

Education, Health Care, Incarceration Costs are Increasing Rapidly
(June 3, 2004—Washington, DC) Illegal immigration now costs Arizona taxpayers about $1.3 billion annually, finds a new report, "The Costs of Illegal Immigration to Arizonans," published by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). The report shows a nearly nine-fold increase in the costs of illegal immigration during the past decade, and that the burden on the state's taxpayers continues to grow rapidly. The average native-born-headed household in Arizona now bears more than $700 a year in additional costs due to mass illegal immigration to the state, finds the report.
Costs

$1.3Billion is a big "partly" esp. to a poor state like AZ.

Money is to the state what energy is to the body. The more stages energy goes through before your body receives it, the more that energy is reduced. Every layer of inefficient government detracts from the efficacy of tax dollars and other assorted sources of state revenue.

I don't know whether AZ has more layers of government relative to other states. But every gov't employee that is necessary to deal with illegal immigrants deducts from the bottom line.

Every wellfare parasite I've ever known has been 100% homegrown American. I've known a handful of immigrants from a variety of countries, from PR to Mexico, Africa to Australia, and none of them are social parasites.

I don't know what your definition of "wellfare (sp) parasite" is, but I think you might run in a pretty small crowd to reach that conclusion.

Place the blame where the blame belongs, in the people and their idiotically elected, shockingly ineffective government.

You've provided no facts to support this conclusion. AZ welfare funds belong to AZ residents first.
EDIT:Typo


[edit on 16-8-2005 by jsobecky]

Ooohh..less than 2 billion...

Check out the link below and I think you'll agree with my use of the term partly in my earlier reply.

www.pbs.org...
Tax exemptions up the yin-yang, bought with lobbyists..hmmm. That couldn't have anything to do with it, right?

The budget deficit was a billion flat in Arizona in 2004, if memory serves. The total budget for Arizona that year was probably only ten billion or so. The deficit is huge for Arizona, in terms of their size and revenue. Many states have larger deficits, but they invariably have a much bigger budget.

[edit on 16-8-2005 by WyrdeOne]

The real point of this thread is that states are beginning to addres the huge problem of illegal immigration over our southern border. Bloated gov't is really irrelevant and a distraction.

No, no, no. You've got it backwards. Illegal immigration is the distraction designed to draw attention away from corrupt and corpulent government.

Not the other way around.

I understand your point perfectly though. You want to talk about illegal immigrants, not the real problems. The real problems apparently don't piss you off as much as illegal immigrants.

I'd say you're chasing a pre-arranged carrot, and happy to be doing so. I'll quit detracting from your thread now, and leave plenty of room for all the folks who want to come on here and blame a bunch of hard working Mexicans for the failures of our lazy ass government.

Peace.

You're free to start a thread to discuss bloated gov't. Anyway, thanks for understanding.

I don't think it's a distraction at all. In fact, I think it's one thing that should spotlight the troubles in our government and the social programs that make it up.

If there was no welfare, social security, free education, income tax, etc, there would be little to no problem aside from terrorism (which I count at fairly low statistically).

This is a marginal problem, but it doesn't make things any easier on anyone.