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Grijalva, Kolbe cool to border-fence proposal

PHOENIX - A plan by a powerful California congressman to build a wall from the Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico is getting a chilly reception from his two Arizona counterparts whose districts cover the border. "It is an effort to further politicize the whole issue," said Rep. Raul Grijalva. The Tucson Democrat said the proposal, made Thursday by Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter, is not only shortsighted and "offensive" but will not solve the problem. Even if there were a fence stretching the entire length of the U.S.-Mexican border, he said, people would still find a way to get in. That assessment is shared by Rep. Jim Kolbe, a Republican. While Kolbe said he is glad many members of Congress are now focused on border issues, he said enforcement, by itself, won't work. "We know this because we have ten times as many Border Patrol agents today than a decade ago in Arizona, yet we have more illegal crossings today," he said. And Kolbe said even if there were a wall, there would have to be enough people to watch it to really make it a deterrent. Grijalva said he recognizes the increasing frustration of Arizonans with the problems caused by illegal border crossers. He said that's why he now concedes enforcement has to be part of any solution. But he said it must be a comprehensive solution, dealing also with the question of those who already are here as well as the need for foreign labor.