Napolitano Offers Obama Pragmatic Take on Immigration
Arizona Governor Likely for Homeland Security Chief
By John Dougherty 11/25/08 6:07 AM
PHOENIX—If Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano becomes the new secretary of homeland security, this centrist Democrat could have the opportunity to institute nationwide reforms to address continuing problems with illegal immigration and border security. These reforms could grow out of the policies and programs that Napolitano has tested in her 15 years of public service in a state that is ground zero in America’s struggle to control its borders.
Napolitano, 50, is now frequently mentioned as President-elect Barack Obama’s leading candidate to run the Dept. of Homeland Security, a sprawling bureaucracy with 200,000 employees and a $50 billion budget that is responsible for protecting against future terrorist attacks, securing borders from illegal entry and responding to natural disasters through oversight of the much-maligned Federal Emergency Management Agency. The department also includes the Secret Service, the U.S. Coast Guard and other agencies.
As governor, Napolitano developed expertise in many of homeland security’s primary missions. She gained a national profile when she demanded in 2006 that the federal government pay for deploying National Guard troops along the border to help the overwhelmed U.S. Border Patrol, a move that foreshadowed President George W. Bush’s deployment of guard troops to the Mexican border. Those troops have since been withdrawn, and last week Napolitano called for their redeployment.
A former U.S. attorney and state attorney general, Napolitano has been widely popular in a conservative, Republican-leaning state since winning the governorship in 2002. She carried every legislative district in her 2006 re-election.
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http://washingtonindependent.com/19967/napolitano-likely-to-prioritize-immigration-at-homeland-security