Q: Are there similar issues along the border in California?
A: To be sure, human smuggling, drug trafficking and illegal entry pose significant problems in border communities from El Centro to San Diego. But by many accounts, those problems aren't as severe as they are in Arizona and New Mexico. For instance, Border Patrol apprehensions have decreased dramatically along the border in California over the last decade, dropping from 561,548 in 1995 to 167,941 this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. Border officials credit an aggressive campaign dubbed Operation Gatekeeper with choking off the flow of illegal immigrants into California.
Q: How will the money be spent in Arizona and New Mexico?
A: Neither emergency declaration specifies expenditures. But officials in both states say the money only can be used to reimburse public costs such as the amount of overtime put in by state and local law enforcement agencies responding to illegal immigration-related violence and crime. In New Mexico, the money also will help rebuild livestock fences and create a field office for the New Mexico Office of Homeland Security to coordinate assistance to the border counties. And in Arizona, funds will reimburse the costs of incarcerating illegal immigrants in county jails and pay for such law enforcement basics as radios and crime scene investigation kits.
Q: Who decides how the money is used?
A: State, county and local agencies in the affected counties can apply for reimbursement of illegal immigration-related costs. In Arizona, the Division of Emergency Management will prioritize requests and distribute emergency dollars. In New Mexico, the Department of Finance and Administration will make those funding decisions.
Q: How would an emergency declaration work in California?
A: Unlike Arizona and New Mexico, there is no pot of emergency funding available in California to funnel toward disasters. Generally, when California declares a state of emergency, it simply opens the door to seek federal assistance and reimbursement. Some California lawmakers believe an emergency declaration over illegal immigration would make the state eligible for federal disaster assistance, provided President Bush also declared an emergency. That, of course, could prove unlikely in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster along the Gulf Coast. And given the magnitude of that crisis, few politicians would be willing to push the issue further at this time.
