Janet Napolitano

Stepping into the political minefield of immigration reform, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano soon will direct federal agents to focus more on arresting and prosecuting American employers than the illegal laborers who sneak into the country to work for them, department officials said Monday.

As governor of Arizona, Janet Napolitano last year signed into law the nation's harshest penalty for employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants, a measure that would take away their business licenses for a second violation. She called it the "business death penalty" and the "most aggressive action in the country" to stem the flow of illegal workers. She also criticized Congress and the federal government for failing to act on immigration overhaul.

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano proposed a $100-million plan Monday to help Arizona deal with illegal immigration. She also has asked the military to pay for stationing National Guard troops at the state's border with Mexico. The governor vowed to punish businesses that continue to break the law by hiring illegal immigrants; to crack down on smugglers and fraudulent documents used by border-crossers; and to provide money for state and local law enforcement.

The Arizona House of Representatives voted Monday to require Gov. Janet Napolitano to follow through on her proposal to increase the number of National Guard troops helping crack down on illegal immigration at the state's border with Mexico. The lawmakers also agreed to provide $5 million in state money for the plan by the governor, who had asked the Pentagon to pick up the costs and said her ideas for using troops would be impossible without complete federal funding. Republican state Rep.

Gov. Janet Napolitano vetoed a bill that would have drawn Arizona deeper into the fight against illegal immigration by making it a crime for illegal immigrants to be in the state. The vetoed bill also would have taken a tougher approach toward employers who hire illegal immigrants, provided money for local police to arrest immigrants and expanded the list of government benefits denied to immigrants.

Faced with the international outbreak of swine flu and mounting concern about the threat to Americans, the Obama administration is relying on a member of the president's Cabinet with almost no background in medicine: Janet Napolitano, the secretary of Homeland Security. Over the last two days, Napolitano has been a constant presence on television and in news reports, urging calm and offering reassurance while laying out the facts and the government's response to the outbreak.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is attending a conference in Texas on border security. She sat down with a Times reporter Monday to discuss a number of issues, including the Mexican drug war, immigration detention in the U.S. and legislative reforms. How effective have the new technology and extra personnel at the border been, and what more can be done to target the drug cartels and border violence? They have been very effective because they have been coordinated, they have been targeted, they have been done in collaboration with the Mexicans, which is a change from years past.

Re "Businesses Press Mayoral Candidates on Tax Issue," Sept. 26: It is reassuring to see Los Angeles city officeholders finally giving business tax reform the attention it deserves. Last June, the business community called for the City Council to enact a package of business tax reforms by Oct. 31 in order to prevent this from becoming a political hot potato. Known as the "3 Rs," the package includes reducing the number of tax rates from 64 to five; removing all businesses grossing less than $100,000 annually from the system; and providing relief for all businesses, 15% to 25% over five years.

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano vetoed two bills Friday aimed at confronting the state's immigration problems, rejecting measures that would have prohibited illegal immigrants from receiving child-care assistance and given police the power to enforce federal immigration laws. The Democratic governor said that the police-powers bill would have provided no additional money for police to fund the new duties, and that it would have cost city officials in Phoenix $19 million.

Responding to protests from state leaders in the Southwest, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has offered tighter coordination between federal agencies and police in Arizona and New Mexico to deal with problems caused by illegal immigration. He sent a letter to Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano on Monday accepting her offer of state police officers to help federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents quickly deport undocumented immigrants.