Tag: Janet Napolitano

While President Obama said this week that immigration reform will have to wait until next year, his Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, has been racheting up former Bush policies of punitive enforcement.

Janet Napolitano, defended the administration’s assertive strategy against illegal immigrants and companies that employ them, relying largely on programs started under President George W. Bush.

....Ms. Napolitano said security problems on the border were inextricably linked not only to the drug trade, but also to the problem of illegal workers in far-flung cities across the country. The government needs to address illegal immigration at the same time it attacks the Mexican mafias, she said.

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Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano gave a major address today. Shorter version: It's time to ramp up the war on terror, give more money to cops and tweak but not eliminate some Bush policies, and encourage citizens to report suspicious activity. From the Wall St. Journal this morning:

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is expected to outline Wednesday the Obama administration's domestic approach to preventing terrorist attacks -- a strategy that will rely in large measure on refining and expanding initiatives launched under President George W. Bush.

We can't afford a health care plan, but we can afford more cops for New York City.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says the city will get $35 million in transit security stimulus money that the city can use to hire more police officers. She says the money will put more than 100 additional cops on city subways and busses.

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I'm not comfortable with Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano's endorsement of Obama. She's another law and order prosecutor-turned-politician. She's a former U.S. Attorney who also served as Arizona Attorney General. She's also been mentioned as a possible vice presidential candidate.

During her 2002 election campaign, she was heavily endorsed by that wacko sheriff, Joe Arpaio (the one puts juveniles on chain gangs, makes inmates wear pink underwear and dui offenders bury the dead, who has prisoners sleep in tents and whose immigration solution is to jail the undocumented.) Arpaio had big praise for Napolitano when an anti-Napolitano ad cropped up in her 2002 race:

Sherriff Joe: This Is Sheriff Joe Arpaio with an Urgent Message. Janet Napolitano Has Been Attacked with the Most Vicious TV Ad in Arizona History. The Ad Is Outrageous and Untrue. As U.S. Attorney, She Was the Number One Prosecutor of Child Molesters in the Nation. As Our Attorney General, Janet Napolitano Has Stood with Law Enforcement to Protect Our Families. This Is Joe Arpaio. Join Me in Rejecting the Attacks Against Janet Napolitano.

Napolitano is a Democrat in a red state with high approval ratings from Republicans. The New York Times says she allowed Arizona's enforcement-only, "toughest in the nation" immigration bill to become law there.

If Obama wants the backing of a law and order politician like Napolitano, fine. It's just one more reason I don't believe he will be a progressive on crime issues if elected President.