Ariz. Weighs Options for Border Patrol

WIth the Feds refusing to take advantage of the authorized incresaed levels of Border Patrol manning levels, Arizona is looking at taking the law into its own hands, on the state level with an Arizona State Border Patrol.

As public frustration grows over the state’s porous border with Mexico, the once-rejected notion of using state police to supplement federal patrols is gaining traction. One state lawmaker’s plan includes $20 million for the Arizona Department of Public Safety to run a 100-member squad to operate surveillance equipment, construct border barriers, target drug and immigrant smugglers and perhaps patrol the border.

This is generating a lot of interest, both negative and positive. Of course the groups that support the open border are scandalized that anyone would actually have the onions to step in and act after they have successfully emasculated the Federal response on the border.

The Chief thinks that it’s a dereliction of duty and a violation of the oath of office of the executive branch to refuse to act to enforce the law at the border. Given the Federal fecklessness, it makes a lot of sense for the states to assume the grip on the loose reins and to reassert that part of their original soveriegnty that the Feds have abdicated.