Hourly Update

Napolitano calls summit on immigration enforcement

PHOENIX - Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano is pointing a finger of blame at the federal government but says state and local officials must do more to combat illegal immigration. Napolitano announced Tuesday she is calling a summit to devise plans for enforcement of federal immigration laws in Arizona, the busiest illicit entry point on the nation's porous southern border. Her signing Friday of an executive order calling for the summit follows her May 20 veto of a bill to allow state and local law enforcement agencies to enforce federal immigration laws. The summit will be organized by the state Department of Public Safety and be held July 12 in Flagstaff. Numerous law enforcement agencies and groups will be invited to send representatives, Napolitano's office said. Napolitano ordered the DPS to propose plans, including recommendations for changes in federal and state law, within 60 days of the summit. While immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility, the federal government has failed to fully reimburse the state for costs of incarcerating illegal immigrants who commit crimes in Arizona, Napolitano's order said. Also, local law enforcement agencies have to release back into the community detained illegal immigrants when the understaffed federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement is unwilling or unable to pick them up, Napolitano said. The bill vetoed by Napolitano would have authorized but not required local and state agencies to enforce federal immigration laws, but Napolitano's veto letter called it an unfunded mandate because agencies would have to incur large costs to train officers. Napolitano's new order also directed the DPS to, separately from the summit, study what the 1,100-officer agency can do within its current budget to enforce federal immigration laws. Federal law permits state and local law enforcement agencies to enforce immigration laws if they have entered into agreements with the federal government. The bill vetoed May 20 was among several immigration-related measures passed by the Republican-led Legislature but vetoed by Napolitano, and political observers have said Republicans will try to make immigration a politically troublesome issue for the first-term Democrat in her expected re-election bid next year. Leaders of several statewide associations representing law enforcement officials were not immediately for comment Tuesday, while the sponsor of the vetoed bill was critical of the summit. "This is such political pandering," said Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa. "She's simply doing everything she can to prevent real enforcement of our immigration laws." Pearce acknowledged that ICE often fails to send officers to take custody of illegal immigrants encountered by local law enforcement officers. "Pressure has to be put on the federal government, but the federal government's failure is not an excuse to let police officers sit on the sideline," he said.