Janet Napolitano says U.S. will target immigration reform

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Thursday told a packed lecture hall at Arizona State University
that the Obama administration is setting its sights on immigration reform.

"We're going to keep pushing this until we get it over the finish line," said Napolitano, who served as Arizona's governor, attorney general and U.S. attorney before joining the Obama administration last year.


Napolitano emphasized that the United States has a sovereign right to secure its borders, and she touted a nearly 20 percent increase in the deportation rate of criminal illegal immigrants since President Barack Obama took office.

She added, however, that America also needs an immigration system that upholds ideals of fairness and openness.

"What I cannot tell you is the when," Napolitano said. "We know now that health care is done, that clears the decks. . . . But the commitment - long term or short term - is certainly there."

Napolitano drew a capacity crowd to the 500-seat music hall at ASU's Tempe campus, with hundreds watching on a video monitor in an overflow room and others viewing a live webcast.

The secretary's lecture on "Meeting New and Evolving Threats to Our National Security" was delivered just three months after a would-be suicide bomber failed to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner.

Napolitano was pilloried by critics afterward for saying, "Once the incident occurred, the system worked."

On Thursday, she said that the near tragedy created a learning opportunity that exposed flaws not only in America's terrorism-defense system, but in aviation security worldwide. Napolitano said she already has coordinated with Europe, Asia and the Americas to create a global fix but emphasized that homeland security is an ever-changing business.

"We know that terrorists remain determined to strike the United States," she said. "This is a constant effort by a very, very determined adversary."

Napolitano said one of her greatest challenges is balancing America's principles of freedom with the duty of protection.

"We have to cast aside the notion that our liberty and our security are two opposing values. . . . You cannot live freely if you live in fear," she said.

Later, the secretary was asked whether her decision to kill the proposed "virtual fence" surveillance system along the Mexican border means the nation's security is diminished. She answered that the high-tech program, with a projected $1.4 billion price tag, was stopped because the prototype built in Arizona was over budget, overdue and didn't work.

"We are not less safe," she added, noting that funds have been shifted to other border-protection technologies that are effective.

Napolitano has been a target of criticism since taking over Homeland Security, a mega-agency with 230,000 employees and a $56.3 billion budget.

She did not get an entirely warm welcome home to Arizona. Sign-waving protesters could be heard chanting outside the lecture hall.

One group decried the continuing DHS effort to catch and deport illegal immigrants, and Obama's failure to achieve promised immigration reform. Of particular concern, said organizer Carlos Garcia, is Homeland Security's cooperation with anti-immigrant efforts by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Source : http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepu...on-reform.html

She's been pushing it for over a year now.

Pushing? More like lightly tapping it hoping it moves on its own.

lie to the public so they wont get mad duh
havent we learned our lesson after 3,000 years of human recorded history

ill be like Bill Cosby and start a new show, it's called,

" POLITICIANS SAY THE DARNEST THING"

ill believe it when there's a bill thats being debated on, but for now
im going to do what i can and not waste my time on these false promises.

"What I cannot tell you is the when," Napolitano said. "We know now that health care is done, that clears the decks. . . . But the commitment - long term or short term - is certainly there."


"WHEN" is the entire point of reform; what a disrespectful thing to say.
Is it going to be done when the stay of deportations orders for the dreamers last year are up? Is it going to be done when the next collateral arrest during a raid fights his/her deportation? Is is going to be done the next time children are left pretty much orphaned when their non-criminal parents get kicked out? Is it going to be done before any of you have the misfortune of ICE running into your lives?
"WHEN" is now.

Lol even before I scrolled down to see your post, as I was reading the very first post line by line, I had same thought as you.

That line "What I cannot tell you is the when," really caught my eyes and that pretty much summed up their lack of care.

Forget about action for a moment. Many of us were like "stop talking and show us action". If they act, that is great but that is far from the reality.

At least they should LET US know the date of their plans. That would at least relieve us.

Or maybe not. Last time they said "2009 spring will be the year!" They postponed. And then "2009 November will be for immigrants". Delayed to 2010 Feb. And now we don't even know when and what they are planning now.

At this rate, immigration reform will be ignored again in 2011.

I don't necessarily think them not giving us an exact date is that bad.. I know we want to know, so we can plan our lives around that.. But I was thinking HCR would never get over with..and then outta no where it passed... Luckily Obama still has 3 years left to make some changes.. And I'm not saying 3 years is a good amount of time to wait.. But you guys should focus on a personal timeframe to ease the stress of the uncertain future we face (I know that's helped me calm my ass down at bit).

i think i disagree with hef, them not giving us a when is bad because it is not due to the fact that they dont know, its because they already know they dont want to do anything about it at least for the next 2 years if not more because frankly they dont feel like dealing w/ the problem, they need to exploit all illegals just a little longer for their monietary and political power gains. I dont think we want to know the when simply so we can better plan our lives around that, but because we need to know when the oppression of innocent children/youth is going to stop and when are they going to acknowledge the inhumane conditions in which illegals in this country are under can't wait another day for change(specially those at the bottom of the exploitation chain who are crucial to growth of the economic powers in our country) .
health care "reform" passing is another testament to the fact that cir will not pass for a while. this thing people have labeled inadequatedly reform was a present to the health insurance corporations , we came in fighting for single payer which is what obama promised while campaigning but ended up begging on our knees for a public option, and came out with nothing but a mandate to buy healthcare and give our money to these corporations, so no healthcare "reform "just didnt pass out of nowhere. and if this is the same course cir will pass through , will we come in fighting for a path to citizenship, and end up begging on our knees for them not to fine us or jail us before we can be uscs , and come out settling for a difficult path to citizenship that will ban us from using social resources that we help pay for in the name of making us earn our right to be here.

I agree with you.

She's not giving us concrete dates because if those deadlines pass she'll look like a liar. It was the exact same thing when Schumer & Graham's bill was supposed to have been released by Labor Day 2009 and kept getting pushed back. Their credibility took a hit because the bill wasn't delivered when they said it was going to be.

She's simply being cautious about the whole thing.