Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is continuing to push back against this year’s election-season narrative that the federal government is not doing enough to secure a lawless and chaotic U.S.-Mexican border, says the Arizona Republic. Napolitano cited the ongoing deployment to the border of 524 National Guard troops and a $600 million border-security bill passed by Congress this month as the latest steps taken to stop Mexican drug smugglers and illegal immigrants from entering.
“One of the things that I have to deal with is perception versus facts,” Napolitano told the newspaper. “A perception that the federal government is ignoring the border, when the facts are quite to the contrary, particularly over the last 18, 19 months. The perception that the border is overrun. Look, nobody wants any illegal immigration, anybody crossing to sell drugs or to smuggle drugs, but the numbers are all trending, and dramatically so, downwards, not upwards. So, it’s important for people to recognize that our law-enforcement efforts that we’ve been undertaking in a very comprehensive manner all across the border are having real results.” Napolitano, a former Arizona governor, state attorney general and U.S. attorney, describes a situation different from the complaints heard from the campaign stump, where Republicans and some Democrats routinely call for increased border-security initiatives. The immigration debate, particularly after Arizona enacted a controversial law on the topic, has dominated the Republican primary races for U.S. Senate, governor, and other offices.