Since Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano is customarily timid on issues regarding illegal aliens, her latest initiative to have law enforcers target the makers and distributors of fake identification is viewed as a bald political ploy leading up to next week's state immigration summit. With a goal of preventing illegal aliens from obtaining fake IDs to get jobs, Napolitano hopes her plan will stem human smuggling.
From The Arizona Republic:
"Anything that we can do to stop human trafficking and prevent the use of fake IDs to assist smugglers from bringing illegal aliens into the country is a step in the right direction," said Leesa Berens Morrison, director of the state Department of Liquor Licenses and Control who is leading the project. "Our officers are experts at ascertaining what's fake and what is not. We started finding more and more that people are using fake Mexican voter-ID cards."
This is insulting. Sure Arizona has lots of desert and lots of sand but that doesn't mean the rest of the world has its head stuck in it. Apparently, some officials want everyone to believe that the use of fake IDs is a recent practice and, only now, experts have confirmed it. Holy moly! Swing a dead cat in any major U.S. city and you'll find a seller of fake IDs.
In a related issue, Napolitano spokeswoman Jeanine L'Ecuyer said:
[T]he governor today would also announce an "unprecedented partnership" aimed at reducing incidents where local police "catch and release" undocumented immigrants because understaffed federal authorities are either unwilling or unable to take custody.
If the incidents of catch and release are to be reduced, then there will have to be fewer catches, fewer releases, or both. Fewer catches can be achieved easily. Don't arrest illegal aliens for being illegal aliens. I think that philosophy is in effect and it doesn't work. Fewer releases means putting the illegals in prison or sending them back for another try. Sending them back to Mexico doesn't work and the prisons are already overcrowded.
Given the circumstances, I don't see how anything will work unless the border is closed to foreign national citizens without a passport. And, Gov. Napolitano doesn't have the resources nor the desire to take on the responsibility of protecting the international border of the United States. In a nutshell, bailing water with a teacup won't save a ship with a massive hole in it.
Companion post at Interested-Participant.
