Governor endorses Minutemen on border He parts with Bush on armed volunteers stopping illegal immigrants in Arizona
Carla Marinucci, Mark Martin
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, just a week after apologizing for suggesting California should "close the borders,'' warmly praised the Minutemen project -- an armed citizens group -- on Thursday for doing a terrific job of stopping illegal immigration from Mexico.
Although President Bush has criticized the group as vigilantes, Schwarzenegger said, "They've done a terrific job. And they have cut down the crossing of illegal immigrants by a huge percentage.''
Schwarzenegger, appearing on the conservative Los Angeles KFI radio's "John and Ken'' talk show, was asked his views of the Minutemen, who are using armed volunteers along the border in Arizona. The governor endorsed the effort, saying, "It just shows that it works.''
"Our federal government is not doing their job," Schwarzenegger said. "It's a shame that the private citizen has to go in there and start patrolling our borders."
Schwarzenegger's comments drew a rebuke from Latino politicians, as had those last week, and put the governor in a public disagreement with Bush. The president and the U.S. Border Patrol have criticized the Minutemen as interfering with law enforcement, and posing a danger to citizens and immigrants aiming to cross the border illegally.
Members of the Minutemen were delighted at Schwarzenegger's comments, noting he was the first governor to support them.
"Gov. Schwarzenegger is the most responsible politician in the West,'' said Grey Deacon, speaking Thursday from the group's headquarters in Tombstone, Ariz. "He is willing to stand up for what is correct in America.''
Deacon called Schwarzenegger's comments very courageous, noting that as a legal immigrant to the country, the governor "understands immigration policy better than most citizens.''
Deacon said the group planned to extend its effort to California by Oct. 1 and hoped the governor would welcome it.
Rob Stutzman, communications director with the governor, said Schwarzenegger had not been in contact with the group and had no current plans to contact it.
Schwarzenegger does not support illegal activity, Stutzman said, and he was merely "praising acts with citizens that are working diligently to solve a problem that their government is not solving.''
But California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein said the Republican governor should be urging the Republican president to put more federal agents on the border rather than endorsing the efforts of untrained volunteers.
Schwarzenegger, who more than 25 years ago immigrated to the United States as an aspiring bodybuilder from Austria, last week kicked off a controversy when he told newspaper publishers in San Francisco that California needed to close the borders to control illegal immigration. After he was severely criticized, the governor apologized and said he meant government needed to do more to secure the borders.
Schwarzenegger, in Thursday's 20-minute interview, was critical of what he characterized as the federal government's failure to control illegal immigration. He said he was deeply concerned watching recent Fox News videos showing "hundreds and hundreds of illegal immigrants coming across the border. I mean, what's that?''
Federal officials "owe it to the people to secure the borders ... they're not doing their job. They're leaving it way open, anyone can walk across,'' he said. "It's not just the problem of immigrants. It's also a problem that any terrorists can come in."
Asked what he would do to secure the border, the governor offered, "The most important thing is what they're doing with the Minutemen now ... have more people controlling it.''
But Schwarzenegger appeared stumped when he was asked why Bush had criticized the armed citizens as vigilantes.
"I really cannot tell you exactly what his thinking is," Schwarzenegger said of the president. "The next time I see him, I will have this conversation. ''
Prominent Latinos and legislators immediately assailed the governor's statements as alarming.
"It is illegal to interfere with law enforcement, and if the governor is promoting that, then maybe we should think of bringing action against him,'' said Art Torres, state Democratic Party chairman. "When he took an oath of office to defend and protect the Constitution of the United States, that includes all of its laws. And when the president of the United States and the Border Patrol both suggest that these activities are not only not helpful, but possibly illegal, that needs to be seriously examined.'''
Assemblyman Hector De La Torre, D-Southgate (Los Angeles County), lambasted the governor's words as "the rantings of a desperate politician'' and an effort "to scapegoat people when you're down.''
"This isn't an action movie," De La Torre said. "It isn't cool that there are people out in the desert with guns.''
Political analysts said that with the governor's poll numbers dropping and his reform agenda stalled, the governor's comments on a conservative radio talk show about illegal immigration signaled a willingness to reprise the strategy of former Republican Gov. Pete Wilson, who hammered at the issue and fired up the GOP base in his 1994 successful bid for re-election.
But they called the move puzzling -- and politically risky at best.
"What happened to redistricting?'' said Barbara O'Connor, political communication professor at California State University Sacramento, referring to the governor's main political goal in the past weeks. "He's clearly not focused his message, and he's doing serial attacks on things he's unhappy with. ''
"It's very odd that the governor would move in this direction,'' added Phil Trounstine, who now heads the San Jose State University Survey and Policy Research Institute.
As public support drops, "there's two ways the governor could go: One is to take a hard line and dig in on the conservative side. The other is to play a more centrist, bipartisan role,'' said Trounstine, who was a communications adviser to former Democratic Gov. Gray Davis. "If the radio show is any indication, the governor has decided for the former, not the latter.''
Stutzman said the governor had intended to discuss his dismay with advertising for Spanish-language Channel 62, which has been prominently placed on major Los Angeles freeways.
The ads, which had riled some anti-illegal immigration advocates, shows a panorama of the Los Angeles skyline dominated by Mexico City's most prominent landmark -- the famed golden angel. The headline says: "Your news, your team. Los Angeles, CA.'' But California is crossed out and replaced with "Mexico.''
Schwarzenegger called on the station to pull the ads, calling them "extremely divisive and unnecessary. The big mistake is that it promotes illegal aliens to come in here, and it's the last thing that we need,'' he told the KFI-AM hosts. "They should take it down immediately.''
But Nativo Lopez, state national president of the Mexican American Political Association, said the ads were trying to persuade the Spanish- speaking and largely Mexican American audience that Channel 62 is "your news in Los Angeles.''
"This is a tempest that has been exaggerated by KFI,'' he said. "Now, the governor has aligned himself with them, and it's shameful. Latinos should have no illusions of what he stands for.'' Schwarzenegger on immigration
The first comments: On April 19, Gov. Schwarzenegger told a group of newspaper publishers, "Close the borders. Close the borders in California, and all across Mexico and the United States.''
The apology: The next day, Schwarzenegger said, "I meant 'securing' our borders, not 'closing' them." He later joked that he should "go back to school and study" his English again.
Latest comments: Speaking on a radio show Thursday about an armed group of citizens patrolling the border, Schwarzenegger said, "They've done a terrific job. And they have cut down the crossing of illegal immigrants by a huge percentage.''