First it was New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. Now Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano is acting to shore up border security in her state by declaring a state of emergency and setting aside funds to deal with the crisis.

Gov. Janet Napolitano on Monday declared a state of emergency along Arizona's border with Mexico, freeing up $1.5 million in disaster funds to help border counties combat booming illegal immigration and drug smuggling.

Napolitano criticized the federal government for "moving too slow" on border security, evolving into a hot-button, election-year issue in Arizona and across the country.

"This is a federal responsibility, and they're not meeting it," Napolitano said. "I've just come to the conclusion (that) we've got to do what we can at the state level until the federal government picks up the pace."

Napolitano's announcement came three days after New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson issued a similar declaration, complaining that the federal government has failed to stem growing smuggling-related violence to the east of Arizona, an increasingly popular illegal immigration corridor. Both governors are Democrats.

In the mean time, we have the GOP governors of Texas and California doing little or nothing to deal with the crisis along their borders. And we have a GOP president and GOP Congress all talking about amnesty plans and guest workers rather than acting to stem the tide of invading immigration criminals.

WhatÂ’s the deal, Republicans? Do you really want to lose the next few elections?

Posted by: Greg at 01:25 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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