Covering nearly 4,000 miles of land and water from Washington to Maine, the U.S.-Canadian border is the longest undefended border in the world.

Various Department of Homeland Security (DHS) component agencies share responsibility for northern border security, primarily U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), in collaboration with other federal, state, local, tribal, and Canadian entities. The Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Act of 2007 required the Secretary of Homeland Security to submit a report to Congress that addresses the vulnerabilities along the northern border, and provides recommendations and required resources to address them.

The act also required the General Accountability Office to review and comment on this report. In response to this mandate, GAO examined the extent to which the DHS report to Congress is responsive to the legislative requirements and actions that may be necessary to address northern border vulnerabilities in addition to the actions addressed in the report.

To conduct this work, GAO reviewed DHS plans, reports, and other documents, and interviewed DHS officials.

The DHS February 2008 report to Congress is not fully responsive to legislative requirements in providing information for improving northern border security. In particular, DHS provided a listing of northern border vulnerabilities and initiatives to address them, but did not include recommendations and additional resources that are needed to protect the northern border.

DHS officials provided several reasons for the lack of specificity and gaps in reported information, including the fact that the component agencies' priorities for action and resources are reflected in the existing budget process, and that they had nothing further to recommend or request through this report.

However, budget documents do not reflect the resources needed over time to achieve control of the northern border. The lack of this information makes it difficult for Congress to consider future actions and resources needed. DHS is developing northern border strategic plans and a risk-management process to help guide and prioritize action and resources, and fully implementing recommendations from past security evaluations would also provide benefit in addressing northern border security vulnerabilities.

DHS is currently developing strategic plans that are intended to provide overall direction in addressing vulnerabilities in northern border security. DHS is also developing a risk-management process to assist in prioritizing efforts and resources that will provide greatest benefit to national security.

Officials have said that the success of various pilot projects, such as DHS's testing of new technology, will likely change the level and mix of resources needed to protect the northern border. In the meantime, DHS could take action to reduce vulnerabilities by implementing recommendations made in past evaluations. DHS has implemented 11 GAO recommendations designed to improve border security, but 39 recommendations are yet to be fully addressed. Eighteen of these open recommendations were made within the last year.

However, 21 recommendations for improving use of air and marine assets, improving screening processes at the ports of entry, and deploying nuclear detection equipment--which DHS and other agencies generally agreed to take action to implement--have remained open for at least 1 year and, in some cases, over 3 years.

DHS is currently developing strategic plans that are intended to provide overall direction in addressing vulnerabilities in northern border security. DHS is also developing a risk-management process to assist in prioritizing efforts and resources that will provide greatest benefit to national security. DHS officials have said that the success of various pilot projects, such as DHS's testing of new technology, will likely change the level and mix of resources needed to protect the northern border.

In the meantime, DHS could take action to reduce vulnerabilities by implementing recommendations made in past evaluations. DHS has implemented 11 GAO recommendations designed to improve border security, but 39 recommendations are yet to be fully addressed. Eighteen of these open recommendations were made within the last year.

However, 21 recommendations for improving use of air and marine assets, improving screening processes at the ports of entry, and deploying nuclear detection equipment--which DHS and other agencies generally agreed to take action to implement -- have remained open for at least 1 year and, in some cases, over 3 years. GAO reported to the US Congress that it believes these outstanding recommendations continue to have merit and should be implemented.

The president of the World Jewish Congress, Ronald S. Lauder, has criticized recent anti-Israel statements by Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann of Nicaragua, the current president of the United Nations General Assembly.

D'Escoto had likened Israel's actions vis-a-vis the Palestinians to "the apartheid of an earlier era" and called on the international community to consider stricter measures against Israel including "boycott, divestment and sanctions" similar to those enacted against South Africa in the 1980s.

The GA president had also added that the failure to establish a Palestinian state made "a mockery of the United Nations and greatly hurts its image and prestige." The Holocaust and other historical crimes against the Jews would not give Israel "the right to abuse others, especially those who historically have such deep and exemplary relations with the Jewish people," according to Miguel d'Escoto.

WJC President Ronald S. Lauder called the accusations against Israel "false and without basis." He added: "Israel has served as an ingathering of many people of all colors and races whose citizens are granted equal rights. Not for the first time, the United Nations is applying different standards for Israel and the Jewish people than it does for other countries. When will we hear the UN unequivocally condemn the rocket attacks against Israeli towns from Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip? When will the United Nations speak out against the mockery that the Iranian regime makes of the international community by threatening to wipe another UN member state off the map?"

The creation of a Palestinian state, the WJC president pointed out, favored by a majority of Israeli citizens, could only become a reality once the threats to Israel's security cease.

Ronald S. Lauder emphasized that recent developments in the international organization, such as the one-sided obsession with Israel on the part of the UN Human Rights Council or the looming repeat of Israel bashing and anti-Semitism at the upcoming UN Durban Review Conference in Geneva next year continue to give rise to great concern. The WJC would continue to work towards equitable and fair treatment of Israel in all the UN venues, he said.

The World Jewish Congress is the international organization representing Jewish communities in over 80 countries around the world. The WJC serves as the diplomatic arm of the Jewish people to governments and international organizations.

As Indian forces for a third day continued to root out terrorists responsible for a wave of deadly attacks across Mumbai, the American Jewish Committee (AJC), which maintains an office in Mumbai and is in close contact with Indian government and Jewish community officials, issued the following statement:

The outlines of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, are becoming clear. The terrorists targeted India, the U.S. and Britain, and the Jewish people. More than 150 were killed, and more than 300 wounded, either by random attacks into crowds or the murder of hostages.

Among the terrorists' targets was the Chabad House of Mumbai, located at Nariman House, and among the reported dead are Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivka. AJC extends its profound condolences to the families and associates of the Holtzbergs, and mourns this unspeakable tragedy -- a deadly attack directed against Jews in a pluralistic society that has always welcomed the Jewish people.

We express our grief over all who have been made victims of this terrorist rampage. We are both deeply saddened and utterly appalled by yet another vicious attack apparently by radical Islamist terrorists upon democracies and upon innocent civilians. In addition to grieving for all the civilians who have been killed, we honor the memories of the brave souls of the Indian security forces who have lost their lives fighting the terrorists.

AJC has longstanding relationships with the government and people of India and the Indian-American community, through our office in Mumbai and our network of offices across the United States. We stand in solidarity with the government and people of India and the Indian-American community at this time of tragedy.

At this dark hour, we reaffirm our determination to continue our work to combat hatred and intolerance throughout the world.

"This is India's 9/11," said AJC Executive Director David A. Harris, "and should serve as another wake-up call for the world."

Source: American Jewish Committee

Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police and he's a staff writer for the New Media Alliance (thenma.org).  In addition, he's the new editor for the House Conservatives Fund's weblog. Kouri also serves as political advisor for Emmy and Golden Globe winning actor Michael Moriarty. 

He's former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed "Crack City" by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at a New Jersey university and director of security for several major organizations.  He's also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country.   Kouri writes for many police and security magazines including Chief of Police, Police Times, The Narc Officer and others. He's a news writer for TheConservativeVoice.Com and PHXnews.com.  He's also a columnist for AmericanDaily.Com, MensNewsDaily.Com, MichNews.Com, and he's syndicated by AXcessNews.Com.   He's appeared as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, Fox News, etc.  His book Assume The Position is available at Amazon.Com. Kouri's own website is located at http://jimkouri.us

For more than six decades, the FBI has stationed agents and other personnel overseas to help protect Americans back home by building relationships with principal law enforcement, intelligence, and services around the globe and facilitating a prompt and continuous exchange of information.

Today, the FBI has Legal Attaché offices -- commonly known as Legats -- and smaller sub-offices in 75 key cities around the globe, providing coverage for more than 200 countries, territories, and islands. Each office is established through mutual agreement with the host country and is situated in the U.S. embassy or consulate in that nation.

According to a report submitted to the National Association of Chiefs of Police by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a team of agents was ordered to fly to India to investigate the militants who killed four Americans and injured at least two others during a wave of Terrorist assaults that occurred in Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay.

US State Department officials were working out the final details Friday with Indian diplomats for the departure of the FBI team, according to Bureau officials. A second contingent of special agents was on alert to join them if necessary, according to NACOP.

The investigators hope to learn more about the origins of the militants who carried out the lethal strikes on luxury hotels, a train station and an Orthodox Jewish center where a New York rabbi and his wife were among five hostages slain.

An American and his teenage daughter traveling with a religious group from Virginia were among the 150 people killed during the coordinated terrorist operation. American officials were checking with members of the Indian government and hospital officials to learn more about the extent of casualties.

A counterterrorism expert cautioned the news media that it was premature "to reach any hard-and-fast conclusions on who may be responsible for the attacks."

But the official, who spoke on intelligence matters with the media on condition of anonymity, added that "some of what we're seeing is reminiscent of past terrorist operations undertaken by groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed."

The two groups mentioned by the official are Pakistani militants who have fought Indian troops in Kashmir and are reported to be linked to al-Qaeda.

Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police and he's a staff writer for the New Media Alliance (thenma.org).  In addition, he's the new editor for the House Conservatives Fund's weblog. Kouri also serves as political advisor for Emmy and Golden Globe winning actor Michael Moriarty. 

He's former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed "Crack City" by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at a New Jersey university and director of security for several major organizations.  He's also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country.   Kouri writes for many police and security magazines including Chief of Police, Police Times, The Narc Officer and others. He's a news writer for TheConservativeVoice.Com and PHXnews.com.  He's also a columnist for AmericanDaily.Com, MensNewsDaily.Com, MichNews.Com, and he's syndicated by AXcessNews.Com.   He's appeared as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, Fox News, etc.  His book Assume The Position is available at Amazon.Com. Kouri's own website is located at http://jimkouri.us

Gangs of heavily armed gunmen stormed several Indian hotels, a popular tourist attraction and a crowded train station in at least seven attacks in India's financial capital. The suspects killed at least 78 people and wounded another 200, according to US embassy officiala.

The gunmen were specifically targeting Britons and Americans and may be holding hostages, according to Fox News' Heather Nauert.

Three US national strategies, developed in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, directed US law enforcement agencies to focus on the prevention of such terrorist attacks. The strategies called for agencies to intensify their efforts to help foreign nations identify, disrupt, and prosecute terrorists.

Following the 9/11 attacks, the President issued a series of strategies that provided broad direction for overseas law enforcement efforts to assist foreign nations to identify, disrupt, and prosecute terrorists.

However, these strategies did not articulate which LEAs should implement the guidance to enhance efforts to help foreign nations combat terrorism or how they should do so. While one of the strategies tasked State Department staff with developing and coordinating US efforts to combat terrorism abroad, the feds found State did not develop or coordinate the development of a plan to use the combined capabilities of US LEAs to help foreign nations identify, disrupt, or prosecute terrorists.

In December 2004, Congress passed the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, which charged the National Counterterrorism Center with developing a plan to use all elements of national power, including LEAs, to combat terrorism.

NCTC officials told analysts that they had drafted a general plan, which was approved by the President in June of 2006. According to NCTC, State Department, Justice Department, and Department of Homeland Security officials, implementing guidance for the plan is under development, and they would not discuss the contents of the plan or the guidance.

Some LEAs have increased efforts to help foreign nations identify, disrupt, and prosecute terrorists. For example, DHS has implemented its Container Security Initiative to screen US-bound cargo at foreign ports, and the Department of State has expanded its Antiterrorism Assistance (ATA) program.

However, analysts found that because most LEAs, with the exception of the FBI, have not been given clear guidance, they lacked clearly defined roles and responsibilities on helping foreign nations identify, disrupt, and prosecute terrorists.

In one country terrorism analysts visited, the lack of clear roles and responsibilities between two US LEAs may have compromised several joint operations intended to identify and disrupt potential terrorist activities, according to the US and foreign nation LEAs.

In addition, the Government Accountability Office found LEAs generally lacked guidance on using resources to assist foreign nations in addressing terrorist vulnerabilities and generally lacked performance monitoring systems and formal structures for sharing information and collaborating. They also found that, because comprehensive needs assessments were not conducted, LEAs may not be tailoring their full range of training and assistance to address key terrorism vulnerabilities in foreign countries.

Sources: American Federation of Police, National Association of Chiefs of Police, US Government Accountability Office, US Department of State, US Department of Defense, Federal Bureau of Investigation   

While the reporters and editors at CNN profess to support working men and women, it appears that behind the scenes they've treated their own workers poorly.

The Honorable Arthur J. Amchan, an Administrative Law Judge of the National Labor Relations Board, issued a decision detailing how the Cable News Network, or CNN America, Inc., violated the federally protected rights of more than 250 employees at the network's bureaus in Washington, DC and New York, NY.

The judge found that CNN committed substantial violations of the National Labor Relations Act when it terminated a subcontracting relationship with Team Video Services ("TVS") -- whose employees were represented by NABET-CWA, Local 31 and Local 11 (collectively "NABET-CWA").

CNN also was found to have discriminated against TVS employees who sought to continue their employment at CNN's bureaus.

Judge Amchan found that CNN discriminated against the TVS employees in a blatant attempt to avoid having to recognize and bargain with the employees' collective bargaining representatives. This decision is the culmination of more than five years of struggle by workers and their unions to vindicate their rights at the DC and New York CNN Bureaus.

For more than 20 years, CNN subcontracted the technical work of broadcasting news and programming from its DC and NY Bureaus to a series of subcontractors. The employees of these subcontractors -- who were always represented by the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians-CWA -- provided the video and sound for many of CNN's most recognized programs, including Larry King Live and Lou Dobbs Tonight.

However, in 2003 and 2004, CNN terminated its subcontract with the last subcontractor, TVS, and announced that the network would hire its own employees to provide these services. CNN developed and implemented what it called the "Bureau Staffing Project," which was a series of procedures for the recruitment and hiring of these new employees.

In his 169-page decision, Judge Amchan found that CNN was a joint employer with TVS of the subcontractor's employees and, as a joint employer, the network was obligated to recognize and bargain with NABET-CWA over the decision to terminate the subcontracting relationship, as well as the decision to hire new employees.

The judge further found that CNN's Bureau Staffing Project was a sham, used by the network to discriminate against TVS employees in order to limit the hiring of those employees in order to avoid having to recognize and bargain with NABET-CWA. In reaching these conclusions, Judge Amchan thoroughly discredited all of CNN's witnesses and rejected each of CNN's defenses.

The judge's order calls for the following:

1. Reinstatement and full back pay for more than 110 employees. Training for those rehired, if necessary.

2. Recognition of the unions in New York and DC.

3. Dues to be remitted to the unions for those who were on check off at the time the contracts were canceled.

4. Rescind, upon request, any departures from the collective bargaining agreements that occurred when the work was taken in-house.

5. Restore any bargaining work that has been outsourced since the end of the Team video contracts.

6. Posting of a notice at the two bureaus and the mailing of the notices to all employees at last known addresses who were part of the bargaining units when the contract was canceled.

7. A "cease and desist order" to prohibit CNN from infringing on workers' rights under labor law in the future.

Judge Amchan's order is a comprehensive remedy that requires CNN to recognize and bargain with NABET-CWA, as well as reinstate more than 110 employees who were not hired as part of the Bureau Staffing Project, restore the employees' working conditions as set forth in the now expired union contracts except for improvements unless requested by NABET-CWA, and to make whole all employees for any loss of earnings and other benefits.

Ed McEwan, president of NABET-CWA Local 11, said, the decision by the ALJ "is a victory for workers, but one that took far too long to achieve because of our broken labor laws.

"Everyone in America should know that the network management we rely on to bring us the news are not above the illegal practices that they headline on a regular basis. From the very beginning we promised our members that 'we will not forget.' We didn't, and we're keeping up the fight until fairness is fully won," said McEwan.

Source: National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians-CWA

In spite of the news media distancing the recent attack on a ship off the coast of Somalia from global terrorism, intelligence experts believe this is just the latest operation initiated against the United States and the West by Al-Qaeda.

Recently a failed assassination attempt on the prime minister of Somalia, as well as the attempt to hijack a luxury American cruise ship, has intensified apprehension and fear that the shaky Somali government is losing to Al-Qaeda and Wahhabi terror groups.

Three people were mortally wounded in a terrorist attack on the Prime Minister, Ali Mohamed Gedi,while he was visiting the war-torn capital of Mogadishu. He survived the deadly encounter which entailed an explosion set off near his convoy, according to security experts. Mr. Gedi was merely visiting since his government is in quasi-exile in Jowhar. The danger in the Somali capital is so great that the transitional government must avoid setting up their headquarters there.

Since 2003, Somalia has witnessed the growth of a brutal network of Jihad with strong ties to Al-Qaeda. In fact, when the US forces faced a bloody battle in 1995 during what became known as the Black Hawk Down incident, it was Al-Qaeda joining with a local warlord who killed and wounded US special operations soldiers.

Somalia has been without a functioning national government for 14 years, when they received their independence from Italy.  The transitional parliament created in 2004, but has failed to end the devastating anarchy. The impoverish people who live in the ruined capital of Mogadishu have witnessed Al-Qaeda operatives, jihadi extremists, Ethiopian security services and Western-backed counter-terrorism agents engaged in a bloody war that few support and even fewer understand.

In an incident that gained some American press attention, Somali-based terrorists armed with rocket-propelled grenades launched an unsuccessful attack on Seaborn Spirit as it rounded the Horn of Africa with American, British and Australian tourists on board. For unexplained reasons, the attack is being treated as an isolated incident and the terrorism link is being all but ignored by journalists. The term “pirates” is routinely used with only a few reporters calling the attackers “terrorists.”

The ship came under attack during the early morning hours when the heavily armed terrorists in two speedboats began firing upon the ship with grenade launchers and machine guns. They assailants were repelled by the ships crew who implemented their security measures which included setting off electronic simulators which created the illusion the ship was firing back at the terrorists.

According to passenger accounts of the attack, there were at least three rocket-propelled grenades or RPGs that hit the ship, one hit a passenger stateroom without inflicting injuries.

There are now some counterterrorism officials who wish to deploy a naval task force to try to prevent attacks, and kill or apprehend these modern-day pirates in Somali waters. Most travel advisories issued by nations throughout the world recognize this area as being among the most dangerous in the world.

There are some who oppose this combative approach fearing the opening of a new front in the war on terrorism. But these opponents of using force have no suggestions for dealing with these dangerous terrorists and thugs who prey on people on land or at sea.

During the 1990s, a group of Saudi-educated, Wahhabi militants arrived in Somalia with the aim of creating an Islamic state in this dismal African country. Also, the renowned Al-Qaeda established an operations base and training camp. They would routinely attack and ambush UN peacekeepers. In addition, they used Somalia to export their brand of terrorism into neighboring Kenya.

Leading members of Al-Qaeda continue to operate, mostly in secrecy, in Somalia and have built up cooperation with some of the warlords who control food, water and medicine. And the people of Somalia starve, mourn and die. 

Somalia has lacked a functioning central government since 1991. In December 2006, the Ethiopian military intervened in Somalia to support Somalia's transitional government, opening what many considered a window of opportunity to rebuild the country and restore effective governance.

The United States has been the largest bilateral donor to Somalia, providing roughly $362 million in assistance since 2001. Recently, the Government Accountability Office reviewed documents from US and international organizations; interviewed US, United Nations (UN), Somali, and other officials; and conducted fieldwork in Kenya and Ethiopia. Overall, the GAO analysts assessed US strategy the desirable characteristics of an effective national strategy that the GAO previously developed.

Several challenges have limited US and international efforts to stabilize Somalia. The international community, including the United States, is seeking to improve the security situation in the country, mainly by funding an African Union peacekeeping operation. However, a shortage of troops has hindered peacekeepers' ability to achieve their mission.

In addition, the most recent attempt at political reconciliation was limited, in part because several important opposition groups were not involved. For example, while this key attempt resulted in resolutions to end the conflict and return all property to its rightful owners, these opposition groups denounced the resolutions, citing their lack of participation in drafting them.

According to many officials, Somalia's Transitional Federal Government lacks institutional structures and national acceptance, and these weaknesses have constrained US and international efforts to establish the transitional government as a fully functioning central government.

To mitigate these challenges, the international community, including the United States, is taking steps that include encouraging all parties to participate in reconciliation discussions. While the international community, including the United States, continues to provide vital humanitarian and development assistance to Somalia, its efforts have been limited by lack of security, access to vulnerable populations, and effective government institutions. The international community's humanitarian assistance to Somalia, which primarily consists of food aid, has not reduced the country's acute malnutrition rates, which have remained above the emergency threshold in some parts of the country.

According to United Nations officials, however, malnutrition is the result of a combination of immediate and underlying causes, including insufficient dietary intake, inadequate health care, and inadequate water and sanitation services.

Ongoing insecurity constrains the international community's ability to monitor its provision of humanitarian and development assistance to Somalia. Furthermore, US officials' inability to travel to the country has prevented them from independently monitoring assistance.

The international community's plans to increase development assistance to Somalia depend on political progress and stability, which have not yet been achieved. US strategy for Somalia, outlined in the Administration's 2007 report to Congress on its Comprehensive Regional Strategy on Somalia, is incomplete.

While the Comprehensive Strategy addresses the components required of it by US law, it does not include the full range of US government activities related to Somalia, such as Department of Defense efforts to promote regional stability, and it does not reference other key US government strategic documents for Somalia.

The Comprehensive Strategy does not fully address any of the six desirable characteristics of an effective national strategy, lacking information on necessary resources, investments, and risk management. A separate, classified report provides more information on selected US strategic planning efforts for Somalia.   

(The following report was obtained by the National Association of Chiefs of Police Firearms Committee.)

A ruling on a case from South Dakota -- where off-duty law enforcement officers were criminally charged for carrying guns despite the authority to do so under the federal 'Law Enforcement Officer's Safety Act of 2004' (LEOSA) -- has confirmed that all qualified off-duty and retired law enforcement are allowed, by federal law, to carry a concealed gun for personal self-defense irrespective of state law.

The federal law supersedes the crazy, confusing and often conflicted state and local laws that limit legitimate self-defense.

Law Enforcement Alliance of America's  Executive Director, Jim Fotis said, "When LEAA co-authored the original draft of what became affectionately known as 'National Cop Carry' back in the early 1990's, I knew it would save cops' lives and give those who choose to resist violent criminals a fighting chance. In 2004 I shook President Bush's hand after he signed our bill into law and rejoiced that our fight -- for more than a decade -- was finally over!"

The local prosecutor's apparent effort to challenge the federal law, and send a message to all in law enforcement not to carry a gun for self-defense in South Dakota, was soundly rejected! Thankfully, after careful review, the gun charges against the officers were dismissed. "The Judge's crystal clear and unambiguous legal opinion should be required reading for every prosecutor in the nation so that no other law enforcement professionals, active or retired, have to endure what those officers and agents have endured in South Dakota," declared Carl Rowan, LEAA's Vice President.

Robert Van Norman and Kenneth Orrock, Attorneys for the officers, said "We are pleased with the court's decision, as it reaffirms the intent of the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act and in effect will protect law enforcement officers and our communities. The law enforcement community should find comfort that LEOSA has been properly applied in this case."

The Law Enforcement Alliance of America, Inc., (LEAA) is the nation's largest not for profit, non-partisan coalition of law enforcement professionals, crime victims, and concerned citizens dedicated to making America safer.

Source: Law Enforcement Alliance of America

When she declared a state of emergency in Arizona in 2006, Governor Janet Napolitano spent millions on her deployment of National Guard troops on the Mexican border.

Illegal Immigration critics complained that Arizona's governor was playing politics when she announced a state of emergency in response to illegal aliens and then she vetoed a new bill that would aid law enforcement in curtailing rampant illegal immigration.

Governor Napolitano vetoed what would have made the presence of illegal immigrants in Arizona a felony offense. She claims she was responding to the wishes of local police chiefs and sheriffs who want immigration arrests to remain the responsibility of the federal government. Apparently she never spoke with Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona, who became a national hero for his policies fighting illegal immigration.

The bill Napolitano opposed would have expanded the state's trespassing law to let local authorities arrest illegal immigrants anywhere in Arizona, one of the country's busiest illegal entry points. The legislation passed through the state legislature but was summarily blocked by the Democrat governor.

In a letter to lawmakers, Napolitano said she opposes automatically turning all immigrants who sneaked into the state into criminals and that the bill provided no funding for the new duties. But critics say she was being disingenuous with her statements. One police commander claims she failed to mention that entering the US illegally is already a crime, albeit a misdemeanor. In addition, reentry into the US once an alien is deported is already a felony in the US.

Besides illegal aliens, the bill would have put more teeth into Arizona law to deal with human smugglers and de facto slave-traders.

"It is unfortunate that the Legislature has once again ignored the officials who are most directly affected by illegal immigration and instead has passed yet another bill that will have no effect on the problem but that will impose an unfunded burden on law enforcement," Napolitano wrote in a press release.

However, when she declared a state of emergency in Arizona, following the lead of another Democrat governor — Bill Richardson of New Mexico — Governor Napolitano spent millions on her deployment of National Guard troops on the Mexican border. Political analysts believe she declared the emergency in order to criticize the Bush Administration as did Governor Richardson.

In fact, Gov. Richardson declared a state of emergency and then deployed a whopping 54 New Mexico National Guard soldiers to aid the beleaguered local law enforcement officers. One police chief said he's seen more guardsmen deployed for a snowstorm than for Richardson's "state of emergency."

Supporters of tough border security said the new bill would have provided Arizona with an opportunity to start gaining control of its vast border problems by providing a second layer of enforcement to catch the tens of thousands of immigrants who slip past federal agents each year.

Republican Senator Barbara Leff of Paradise Valley, who proposed the bill, said the governor has painted herself as tough on illegal immigration by declaring a state of emergency at Arizona's border, but has taken little action to back up her rhetoric, according to the Washington Examiner.

"I don't think the governor wants to do anything about this problem," Leff said. She said the bill would have been a means to detain illegal immigrants until federal agents can pick them up.

The Democratic governor, accused by her Republican critics of being soft on immigration, has vetoed other immigration bills from the GOP-majority Legislature within the past year, including a proposal to give police the power to enforce federal immigration laws. She's also provided services for illegal aliens and is a proponent of drivers licenses for illegals.

While immigrants provide the economy with cheap labor, Arizona spends tens of millions of dollars each year in health care and education costs for illegal workers and their families. An estimated 500,000 of the state's population of about 6 million are illegal immigrants.

While defenders of illegal immigrants tell the American people that these unlawful workers pay taxes, some immigration experts say illegals are usually paid off the books by their employers so there are no federal or state tax deductions. And because of tax laws passed to help low-paid workers, they aren't taxed even is they declare their wages to the Internal Revenue Service.

Up to 28 percent of the work force in the country is paid in cash, meaning as many as one in four don't have federal and state payroll taxes withheld, which creates the kind of economic unpredictability that potential employers tend to avoid, according to economic experts.

Governor Janet Napolitano's veto of the new bill was an about face considering her past speeches in which she told voters she would have two state police squads focus on alien smuggling cases. Both plans offer millions of dollars to communities to thwart illegal entries, and money for combating gang-related border crime.
   
State police in Arizona already work near the border. An average of 27 state police officers are near the border at any given time, assisting federal authorities in looking for fugitives trying to leave the country and people attempting to bring ill-gotten cash and stolen vehicles into Mexico.
   
Advocates for state and local action said the idea will not fix Arizona's vast immigration problems, but would discourage some people from sneaking across the border.
   
"If the federal government isn't going to do the job and Arizona is footing billions of dollars a year for illegal aliens, it makes sense for the state to get involved," said Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which favors limits on immigration.
   
Meanwhile, opponents of tough border security are already harping on racial profiling, saying it would increase if officers unfamiliar with immigration law were to try and enforce it. They also say it could make investigating crime harder in immigrant communities, because fewer aliens would cooperate with police for fear of being sent home.

Whenever cornered during a debate over law enforcement, liberal-left activists will always bring up the "racial profiling" issue whether it's germane to the discussion or not. It puts the proponents of law enforcement on the defensive since the debate then becomes one in which the debater must prove he or she is against racial profiling.

Meanwhile, the invasion of the United States continues and the Democrats (and some Republicans) will actually accelerate it.

On December 21, 1994, federal Judge Royce Lamberth, who presided over the litigation to open the health care task force, asked Holder, who at the time was the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, to investigate Ira Magaziner for possible perjury and criminal contempt of court. He also suggested that Attorney General Janet Reno should appoint an independent counsel to investigate.

Reno announced on March 3, 1995 that she would not appoint an independent prosecutor. On August 3, 1995 Eric Holder announced that he, too, would not prosecute Magaziner.

Magaziner, who headed up the task force, asserted to plaintiffs in a March 3, 1993 statement that no outsiders, or non-government employees, were taking part in the task force. When task force documents were later produced, it was obvious that dozens of outsiders had taken part. It was not a small point. The presence of outsiders would trigger the Federal Advisory Committee Act, requiring that task force meetings be opened to the public. Magaziner's claim stood for several months. Magaziner and other participants in the task force took no action to expose it or to correct the record.

An example of an outsider was Lois Quam, a vice-president of United Health Care Corporation, a for-profit managed care provider. United Health Care stood to financially benefit from the decisions of the task force, not to mention the reams of inside information to which she would become privy.

Quam's participation also helped fuel a controversy directly involving Hillary. The Clintons were investors in a closely held limited partnership called ValuePartners 1, which held a block of United Health Care stock. The partnership shorted a number of health-related stocks including United Health Care. At the time of his death, Deputy White House Counsel Vincent Foster was in the process of putting the Clinton's health care stocks into a blind trust, a task not completed until July 26, 1994.

At the time, NLPC accused the Clinton administration of a cover-up. Both Reno and Holder were appointed by Clinton, and Reno owed her job to Hillary. Additionally, the Washington Post reported in January of 1995 that Holder was under consideration by Clinton for appointment to a federal judgeship.

Flaherty concluded, "When Reno said she would not appoint a special prosecutor, it was even more appropriate for the case to be handled by the U.S. Attorney with jurisdiction. That was Holder and he should have acted. Holder's failure to pursue Magaziner made a mockery of the law."

Source: National Legal and Policy Center 

 http://www.nlpc.org/