Pubdate: Sat, 22 Sep 2007
Source: Sierra Vista Herald (AZ)
Copyright: 2007 Sierra Vista Herald
Contact:  http://www.svherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1379
Author: James Bennett

GIFFORDS SAYS SHE FAVORS PERMANENT CHECKPOINT

GREEN VALLEY - U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz.,  on Friday
announced her support for a permanent U.S.  Border Patrol checkpoint
south of Green Valley.

Giffords said a checkpoint should remain where the  temporary facility
is located, north of Tubac on  Interstate 19, rather than moving
further north toward  Green Valley. The Border Patrol has agreed to
limit the  size of the station, she said.

The Border Patrol station was a contentious issue in  the corridor
between Sahuarita and Tubac. Senior  citizens and business leaders
feared a permanent  station closer to Green Valley would force illegal
  immigrants and drug smugglers off the interstate and  into their
neighborhoods.

"The Tucson sector is the weakest link in our nation's  immigration
enforcement system along the U.S.-Mexico  border," Giffords said in a
statement. "Every other  sector has far more infrastructure than ours
and most  have checkpoints. There are 34 interior checkpoints  between
Texas and California. So it is not a  coincidence that Southern
Arizona is experiencing an  unprecedented flow of illegal immigrants
and drugs."

Giffords said an increase in arrests of illegal  immigrants and an
increase in drug seizures led to her  support for a permanent facility.

"During the past 12 months, the Tucson Sector has  accounted for
approximately 370,000 of the 838,369  illegal immigrants apprehended
along the U.S.-Mexico  border - about 44 percent of all
apprehensions," she  said. "The total number of marijuana seizures
during  this same period was 1.8 million pounds - 900,000  pounds of
that were seized in the Tucson Sector alone.

As a U.S. representative for this area, I cannot and  will not stand
by and allow this sector to remain the  major route for smuggling into
our country."
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MAP posted-by: Derek