Illegal Immigration - We Must Secure the Borders

•    Border Security is the fundamental platform for success.  Without controlled border security, Arizona will continue to waste precious capital resource
•    $1.3 billion cost of illegal immigrants must be used to support and provide opportunities to the legal residents of Arizona
•    Deploying National Guard troops is effective, but the state and feds must fund the deployment
•    Arizona laws should require citizenship or legal status to receive benefits
•    Trespassing laws against illegal immigrants may not be effective but denying state benefits and enforcing employer sanctions laws are effective

First and foremost we must secure our borders.   Currently the 389 miles of Arizona / Mexico border have been used by illegal immigrants as a gateway into our state.  Illegal immigration is a relentless drain on the entire state’s infrastructure. 

Estimates have the total cost of illegal immigrants on healthcare, education, and jails at $1.3B.  Clearly this is a Federal issue, but the State of Arizona must in many cases act because the Federal government is not doing enough.   Without a unified effort and fulfilled promises from the Federal government Arizona will feel the ever-growing impact of illegal immigration.

Robert Graham Will Build Secure Borders

Employer sanctions laws are effective deterrents against illegal immigration and need to be enforced vigorously.  This undoubtedly is a concern for many businesses because they are not experts in identity theft and may unknowingly hire an illegal, but with eVerify and other tools available, any business doing their due diligence during the hiring process should be able to weed out illegals. The bigger issue is the number of agricultural and other businesses that “depend on” foreign labor.  With high teen unemployment and generally high unemployment statewide, the concerns of these businesses should be mitigated due to the high supply of unemployed citizens of Arizona.

Deploying the National Guard is effective also and the cost-benefit of deploying the National Guard versus the $1.3B that we are spending is difficult to not justify.  Trespassing laws may allow police better ability to turn offenders over to Federal agencies but these laws need to be carefully crafted to avoid racial profiling and to make sure that they are effective.  Barring major errors in these laws, I would sign and enforce them.  I would deploy the National Guard and secure our border once and for all.    Talking and not doing is depleting the lifeblood resources we need to build, protect and grow Arizona opportunities.   Robert Graham is committed to securing Arizona’s border, protecting Arizonans,  and  holding the Federal government accountable to the promises of secure national borders.