Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was out in front over the weekend as the Administration defended a newly-passed $600 million bill for border security, while Tea Party activists promised not to “stop yelling” about the need for even more money. Elsewhere in the Spanish-language press, Arizona’s harsh new anti-immigration law is causing immigrants to leave the state for other Western states including Utah–where a state legislator has just introduced a similar bill. Another draconian anti-immigrant bill proposed in Florida is splitting that state’s Republican party.
Administration defends border bill…El Financiero (Mexico) reprints a Notimex article in which Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano defends the law just passed by Congress allocating $600 million for the border. Secretary Napolitano told Univisión that “We’re not just trying to throw money at the border to solve this problem,” according to the article. La Opinión (Los Angeles) reports that due to the new law, signed on Friday by President Obama, and other recently-implemented measures, Secretary Napolitano predicted that there will be a spike in deportations.
…but Tea Partiers remain unsatisfied. Meanwhile, the AP reports on a demonstration held by members of the “Tea Party” movement at a remote spot on the Arizona-Mexico border to express support for Arizona law SB 1070. According to the news agency, “attendees urged members of Congress and President Barack Obama to provide more funding to increase border security. ‘We’re going to make them do it, because if they don’t do it we won’t stop yelling about it,’ said former state senator Pam Gorman, one of 10 Republicans competing for an open seat in northern Phoenix. Gorman carried a gun in a holster strapped over her shoulder.”