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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger responded to harsh criticism about his support for armed volunteers who are patrolling the Arizona border with Mexico by praising the effort further Friday -- and an aide said they are welcome to operate in California.
Reaction to the governor's support of the Minuteman Project ranged Friday from a state assemblyman who suggested the encouragement was "dangerous'' and "increases the likelihood of people getting hurt,'' to applause from an activist who said Schwarzenegger's comments were likely to boost his effort to bring citizen border patrols to California.
The governor had called the news conference in Los Angeles to introduce his new education secretary, Alan Bersin, a hard-charging administrator from San Diego, where he has been the superintendent of schools since 1998. Bersin expressed a desire to work with California teachers but also promised to fight if they resist the governor's plans to reward successful teachers in the effort to improve school performance.
But any attempt to focus attention on Schwarzenegger's education agenda was short-lived, as the questions quickly turned to the border issue, always a hot-button political topic in California.
On Thursday, Schwarzenegger said on a Los Angeles radio show that the Minuteman Project, which has been patrolling the Mexican border in Arizona in an attempt to prevent illegal crossings, has been doing "a terrific job," and he credited the volunteers for reducing the flow of entries, though he provided no data.
Schwarzenegger, who immigrated to the United States from Austria more than 25 years ago, softened his comments only slightly Friday. He said he is a strong proponent of immigration, "but you've got to do it in a legal way." He said he favors proposals for a guest worker program that would allow some Mexicans to work in the United States and an opportunity, over time, to apply for citizenship.
Neighborhood watch
But the governor again expressed support for the Minutemen, who have been denounced by some, including President Bush, as vigilantes trying to take the law into their own hands. Schwarzenegger compared them to neighborhood patrol groups, in which citizens work with police to prevent crimes.
Those comments were quickly condemned in Sacramento.
"The border between California and Mexico is not a neighborhood,'' said Assemblyman Dave Jones, D-Sacramento, who worked on border issues for U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno during the Clinton administration. "It is a border between two nations. It's a border where there is a significant amount of illegal activity. There are people running around with guns.''
The governor said the point was to pressure the federal government into patrolling the border more vigorously to limit illegal crossings.
Schwarzenegger cut the news conference short after 15 minutes, but his press secretary, Margita Thompson, said later that the governor would welcome the Minutemen in California, as long as they comply with the law by not patrolling with weapons or violating other statutes.
She compared the group's efforts -- which involve looking for those trying to cross the border illegally and reporting the activity to federal border agents -- to the recall election that brought Schwarzenegger into office. She characterized the patrolling as a legitimate expression of frustration over the federal government's failure to stanch the inflow of undocumented workers.
4 agents killed since 2003
Jones called the administration's position "irresponsible'' and suggested Schwarzenegger is ignorant of the realities of the border.
"I'd ask him to go down there and talk to Border Patrol agents about what they're facing before he suggests that untrained, unprofessional volunteers should be roaming around that area,'' Jones said.
A spokesman for the Border Patrol refused to comment on Schwarzenegger's stand, but noted four Border Patrol agents had been killed on the job along the U.S.-Mexico border since 2003.
"Not everyone crossing is an economic migrant,'' said Mario Villarreal, a spokesman for the agency in Washington, D.C. "There are a lot of dangerous people, including murderers and drug smugglers. An untrained and unqualified person acting in the capacity of law enforcement risks becoming involved in a dangerous situation that jeopardizes not only themselves but also those around them.''
In San Francisco, immigrant activists blasted the governor.
"Gov. Schwarzenegger has stooped and catered to the worst sentiments of division, fear and racism,'' said Mark Silverman, director of immigration policy for the Immigrant Legal Resource Center.
He suggested people should be equally concerned about the laxness of the federal authorities in investigating people like Schwarzenegger, who has admitted working illegally in the United States while in the country as an Austrian immigrant in the 1970s.
"The hypocrisy and chutzpah of the governor is incredible,'' he said.
Guadalupe Siordia-Ortiz, a recently naturalized citizen, said she was "sad and insulted'' by the governor's support for the Minutemen. "We are people who come to this country to work,'' she said. "We are not criminals.''
Schwarzenegger's comments could help boost citizens' patrols, said an organizer of the efforts.
Next stop: California?
Andy Ramirez, who runs the nonprofit group Friends of the Border Patrol, said he hopes to meet with Minuteman organizers soon to plan for an August deployment of patrols in California.
Unlike in Arizona, Ramirez said, California volunteers would be unarmed. He said 400 people already have called his group, which is based in Chino (San Bernardino County), to say they want to participate.
"We're encouraged by (Schwarzenegger's comments), and I would be more than willing to talk to him more about this,'' Ramirez said.
Schwarzenegger also repeated his criticism Friday of groups that have placed water at critical stations in desert areas near the border.
The groups began those efforts after several tragedies in which groups of Mexicans died of exposure and dehydration near the border -- in particular, an occasion in March 2001 when a group of Mexicans was dumped by smugglers in the Arizona desert near Yuma, and 14 of them died.
The governor said the stations -- some put in place by church groups, others by the government -- are magnets for illegal immigrants and encourage illegal crossings. He refused to comment on the humanitarian concerns that are behind the stations.
insein said:Arnie is the best thing that could have happened to California. He says what he means and means what he says. He would make a great president. Too bad it could never happen.
insein said:Arnie is the best thing that could have happened to California. He says what he means and means what he says. He would make a great president. Too bad it could never happen.
