LA RAZA NAPOLITANO: Spillover Violence is MERE PERCEPTION??? Is the Mexican Drug Cartel a Fantasy?

Napolitano: Spillover Violence in Arizona is Mere “Perception”

Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano played down the violence along the border, stating that “[Arizona] is a place where there is a perception that there is spillover violence.” (Webcast, April 27, 2010, emphasis added). Remarkably, Napolitano made the statement just seconds after she noted that the drug cartels “literally have fingertips that go into communities all over the nation” and that Phoenix has been the center of “battles” between drug cartel distributors. (Id.) Still, Secretary Napolitano seemed to dismiss the seriousness of the violence, insisting that “the plain fact of the matter is from a numbers perspective, the numbers at the border have never been better.” (Webcast, April 27, 2010).

During the hearing, Senators from both sides of the aisle expressed serious concern about increasing border violence. Chairman Pat Leahy (D-VT) said, “[W]e are experiencing historic levels of drug related violence that must be brought under control – families being murdered, law enforcement being murdered, officials being murdered, and brazen shoot outs.” (Webcast, April 27, 2010; See also Leahy’s Written Statement, April 27, 2010). Committee Ranking Member Jeff Sessions (R-AL) echoed his words: “The violence…is increasing and is a serious threat to law abiding people. In Arizona and other places along our southern border, the power of these drug cartels is very real. The power of the coyotes who bring people in illegally is very real, and it’s got to be confronted in a very serious way.” (Webcast, April 27, 2010). And when pressed by Senator Sessions about the need to help local law enforcement officials combat this violence, Napolitano -- who has been an outward critic of Arizona’s new immigration law -- responded, “[I]n my judgment, what we need to be doing is working with local law enforcement so that you have combined and leveraged federal resources with local. (Id.)

Napolitano’s comments before the Judiciary Committee came after a string of violence near the border involving U.S. citizens. Just 45 days earlier, drug cartels executed a gruesome murder of three people with ties to the U.S. Consulate in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez (FOX News, April 6, 2010); 36 days earlier her own department issued a safety alert to law enforcement officers in west Texas warning of retaliatory killings by Mexican “assassin teams” (See FAIR’s Legislative Update, April 12, 2010); and exactly one month prior, Arizona rancher Rob Krentz was murdered near the U.S.-Mexico border by a suspected illegal alien (See FAIR’s Legislative Update, April 5, 2010). Four days after the hearing, an Arizona sheriff’s deputy was ambushed and shot by illegal aliens with an AK-47 about 50 miles south of Phoenix. (The New York Times, May 1, 2010) The encounter led to a massive manhunt in which Arizona law enforcement deployed scores of officers and dispatched helicopters to search a 100 mile radius. (Id.)

Napolitano’s suggestion that the southwest border is more secure than ever was likely meant to lay the groundwork for a mass amnesty. In fact, her comments came in response to a question from Chairman Leahy in which he asked “Can we do both things? Secure our border, and have comprehensive immigration legislation?”(Webcast, April 27, 2010). Napolitano’s answer: “[C]omprehensive immigration reform should be in our sights.” (Id.).