Governors urge feds to provide more resources to facilitate borders flow

Daily Dispatch ^ | September 29, 2007 | Howard Fischer

[yorkie]

Governors from both sides of the border lashed out at the U.S. government Friday for not doing more to facilitiate the flow of people and goods from Mexico into the United States.

Gov. Janet Napolitano led the charge by saying the back-ups have created a ``parking lot'' at many border crossings. And she said that the border states want more than the promises they have heard before. ``Our federal governments can no longer satisfy us simply by coming to a meeting and giving a speech,'' she said. ``What we require are resources and dedication and a priority setting that has yet to be seen.''

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said his agency is doing more, including adding more lanes at existing ports of entry and developing and using high-tech approaches to speed crossings.

But Chertoff, in an excusive interview with Capitol Media Services, said that the best way for communities that want to ease the flow of international traffic to do that is to come up with some cash. ``The business folks down here are going to have to get together and decide how they're going to finance the infrastructure, how they're going to deal with the environmental issues,'' he said.

On the other side of the equation - keeping people from crossing the border illegally - Chertoff acknowledged the delays in constructing the first stretch of a ``virtual fence'' in Southern Arizona. But he said the bugs are being worked out.

The issue of border delays drew angry comments from several of the governors.

[GOP Poet]

Sounds to me like Napolitano is playing both sides of the sides—literally.

[GOP Poet]

Sounds to me like Napolitano is playing both sides of the sides—literally.

[GOP Poet]

Sounds to me like Napolitano is playing both sides of the fence—literally.

[yorkie]

From the article:

But the secretary said that in a visit earlier Friday to Southern Arizona he watched as unmanned aerial vehicles tracked people crossing the border ``and sent the image to the guy in the command truck.''

``It was mapped onto a map of the border,'' Chertoff said. ``You were able to send Border Patrol agents and assets to intercept the illegals,'' he continued. ``So I know the technology works. I just want to make sure that the contractors got it integrated before I accept it.''

What a line of you-know-what.

[GOP Poet]

Sorry about the three postings—the posting time was hanging and then I realized I needed to make a change and used the back button to redundant effect :-(. My last post is what I meant to say.

[GOP Poet]

The whole issue is a mess. Why is this taking so long? Implement it!

[yorkie]

Mr. Chertoff just wants to make sure it works before he accepts it. (Kinda like going to kindergarten every year for six years, just to make sure you could really count to three, eh?)