California Border Patrol Is Proposed (Schwarzenegger "not commenting")

Ping - from yesterday's thread (and a few more).

I'm not to sure I trust this new crew.

ROFL! Just doing the jobs Americans won't do?

For "Thunder on the Border," click this picture:

I don't think I've told you this year what an awesome job you do! Thanks!

I'd tell Fabian Nunez to repeal the tax breaks and special benefits that now go to illegal aliens and spend them on the new Border Police. What a novel idea! Of course, to every one but a Democrat.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

Thanks for the kind words- I often wonder who reads my stuff.

Here's a more informative article:

Measure aims for a separate border patrol for California
By Ed Mendel
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
May 5, 2005
SACRAMENTO – A new state police agency to patrol the border and crack down on businesses that hire illegal immigrants would be created by an initiative filed yesterday, adding to the debate over the emotional issue.
The proposal from a conservative group comes after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger praised the controversial Minuteman Project and as Congress considers new restrictions sparked by terrorism concerns.
The "California Border Police Act" is being pushed by Assemblyman Ray Haynes, R-Murrieta, and Rescue California, a group advocating tougher border enforcement. But neither could estimate the cost of creating a police force and special prison facilities.
But the initiative's supporters contend that it would save California money in the long run by reducing the cost of providing education, health, prisons and other services for illegal immigrants.
Schwarzenegger, who took office in a 2003 recall election that Rescue California helped put on the ballot, has drawn national attention to illegal immigration with remarks criticized by Latino leaders.
The Republican governor last week praised the Minuteman border volunteers in Arizona, comparing them to Neighborhood Watch groups. Critics pointed out that President Bush has called them vigilantes.
Earlier, Schwarzenegger created a stir when he said the border should be "closed," then corrected himself by saying he meant "secured."
The initiative, written by Haynes, was not intended to qualify for a special election Schwarzenegger has threatened to call for November, but would be targeted for the ballot next year.
Haynes said he has been working on the measure for three weeks to a month, before the governor made his remarks.
"The initiative is comprehensive, statewide and uniform," Haynes said. "It addresses the supply and the demand side, both the employers who support illegal immigrants and the illegals who come across the border."
With full enforcement of the law at the border and at job sites, Haynes said he tried to avoid the controversy surrounding the Proposition 187 cutoff of public services to illegal immigrants, which was approved by voters in 1994 but blocked by the courts.
"I looked for the common theme," Haynes said. "Both sides say, 'Let's enforce the law.' "
Art Torres, the state Democratic Party chairman, said enforcement of the border and illegal-immigration laws should be left to the well-trained professionals in the federal government.
"To hire a whole new law enforcement doesn't make sense from a cost perspective or a jurisdictional perspective," he said.
Torres said the right approach is strengthening the Border Patrol as proposed by U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.
He said three other things are needed to control illegal immigration: enforcing the law against employing illegal immigrants, persuading Mexico to control its border with the United States in the same way it enforces its border with Guatemala, and moving foreign-owned plans in Mexico from the border to the interior.
Though illegal immigration is a hot political issue, the prospects for qualifying this initiative are unclear. An initiative bolstering California's laws prohibiting illegal immigrants from receiving driver licenses while denying them other public benefits never gained the signatures to qualify for the ballot.
A spokesman for Schwarzenegger said the governor has no position on the initiative. Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, said he was reluctant to comment on the measure, which he has not read.
"But if it requires spending state dollars, I am going to take a second look at that because we do have to be fiscally responsible," he said.
Spokesmen at the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Laguna Niguel and the Border Patrol office in San Diego declined to comment on the proposed initiative late yesterday.
Haynes said he first got the idea for the initiative from a resident who said the federal government has failed to control the border. "Why don't we do it ourselves?" the resident asked.
In addition, Haynes said, he was influenced by the proposals of sheriffs in several Southern California counties, including Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona.
The sheriffs want to use a provision in a 1996 federal immigration law that allows local officers to be trained to enforce immigration law under agreements negotiated with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The goal of Carona and the other sheriffs is to use the local officers not to halt illegal immigration, but to help remove criminals from the streets and ease jail overcrowding.
Several dozen local officers have been trained under the little-used federal law in Florida and Alabama, according to news reports, and state and county police agencies nationwide are talking about joining the federal program.
Haynes predicted that a California Border Patrol, if approved by voters, is not likely to be overturned by the courts like Proposition 187.
"The 1996 law allows state and local government to enforce federal immigration law, and all we are doing is enforcing federal immigration law," Haynes said.
Dave Gilliard, a political consultant for Rescue California, said the number of officers in a new California Border Patrol would be determined by the state Office of Emergency Services.
Gilliard estimated that the new agency might have 1,000 to 2,000 officers – far fewer than the California Highway Patrol. He said the CHP has about 7,000 officers and a budget of $1.4 billion.
The proposed initiative says illegal immigrants cost California taxpayers $9 billion a year, causing overcrowded schools and emergency rooms.
Gilliard said the estimated costs come from the Federation for Immigration Reform and the Center for Immigration Studies.
The state Department of Finance has estimated that the state will spend more than $734 million this year to imprison more than 18,000 illegal immigrants convicted of crime.
The department estimated two years ago that providing prenatal services for illegal immigrants with 95,000 births cost the state $320 million, said spokesman H.D. Palmer.
He said the cost of educating the children of illegal immigrants, who would have been barred from public schools by Proposition 187, has not been calculated by the department in recent years.
The drive to put Haynes' initiative on the ballot will be joined by the California Republican Assembly, the group that that tried to put the driver-license initiative on the ballot.
Mike Spence, president of the organization, said the group has an e-mail list of 50,000 people, a donors list and a large mailing list.

I agree. See more complete article above.

Art Torres, the state Democratic Party chairman, said enforcement of the border and illegal-immigration laws should be left to the well-trained professionals in the federal government.

What Art Torres said in 1995:

As Art Torres, Chairman of the California Democratic Party declared at the January 1995 Latino Summit Response to Prop 187 at UC- Riverside ''Remember Prop 187 is the last gasp of White America in California!''

I often wonder who reads my stuff.

You can add me to the list of people who read your stuff.

Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez, a Democrat from Los Angeles, said if a new police force required "spending more state dollars, I think we have to take a second look at that because we do have to be fiscally prudent."

Oh, my sides! Hahaha!! If we got serious, CA could finally get out of debt. Thanks for the ping :)

I read your stuff all the time. Whatever happened to MiaT, btw? I haven't seen her around in ages.

"To hire a whole new law enforcement doesn't make sense from a cost perspective or a jurisdictional perspective,"

No problem here. Simply fund the agency based upon all of the money taken from drug activities performed by illegals and other criminal activities. Just the savings from the welfare system would more than amply fund the venture.

This would probably be one of the only government agencies to actually pay for itself.

Thanks to you both... regarding MiaT, I, too, had wondered where she was recently.

It will be a hoot to see what Gil Cedillo has to say.

I look around to see who's working for roofers and lawn maintenance/house cleaning outfits here in eastern MA, and most not only seem to be Hispanic, I'd lay odds they all have English dictionaries stuffed in their back pockets.

I am not sure I would trust them either.

That's an idea.

Or since immigration is a federal law we could start coming down on state and local officials, especially local officials, that refuse to enforce federal laws.