Obama's Homeland Security pick wins praise from Valley leaders

McALLEN — President-elect Barack Obama's apparent pick for Homeland Security secretary promises to mend a years-long rift between the department and the Rio Grande Valley, area leaders and activists said Thursday.

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano has emerged as the likely choice to lead the Cabinet-level office charged with securing the nation's border, protecting the country against terrorism and coordinating federal disaster response, according to several top Obama advisers.

And her reputation as a critic of several Bush administration border initiatives has already made a favorable impression in South Texas.

"It's going to give that department a whole new perspective," Cameron County Judge Carlos Cascos said. "However she's going to behave, I think it's going to be better than with the previous secretary."

As the governor of a border state, Napolitano at times criticized plans to build 700 miles of fencing along the nation's border with Mexico and was among the first border leaders to call for a National Guard presence on her state's southern frontier.

A DHS under her watch could offer a more sympathetic ear on issues that have alienated the department from the region most affected by its recent policies, Cascos said.

The U.S. Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Citizenship and Immigration Services all fall under the department's mantle.

Under current Secretary Michael Chertoff, Homeland Security has attracted frequent condemnation from Valley leaders for what they describe as an institutional stubbornness and unwillingness to consider input from communities along the border.

The controversy over the border fence was only one of several lightning rod issues to emerge during Chertoff's tenure that pitted local business leaders, environmentalists and private landowners against the Bush administration.

Other DHS policies such as US-VISIT - a new way of tracking immigrant visitors - and new passport requirements for border crossers concerned local leaders because they were drafted with minimal consultation with the people they would affect most.

Both Chertoff and his predecessor - former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge - came from East Coast backgrounds and had limited experience on the border prior to taking office.

Napolitano, who served as Arizona's attorney general before being elected the state's governor in 2002, has established a clear record on several border security issues during her nearly six years in office.

As governor, she has fought to curb illegal immigration by targeting businesses that knowingly hire undocumented workers, rather than targeting individual migrants.

Last year, her state passed a law that requires all Arizona businesses to use a federal online database to confirm that new hires have valid Social Security numbers and are eligible for employment.

In 2005, though, she vetoed a bill that would have given police departments the authority to arrest and effectively deport illegal immigrants in her state.

She has repeatedly called the federal government "our missing partner" in securing her state's borders, echoing a refrain heard for years from the Valley's elected officials.

But Sigifredo Gonzalez, chairman of the Southwest Border Sheriff's Coalition, cautioned against assuming a Napolitano-helmed DHS would mean a more border-centric era for the department.

Even if the governor were to maintain her anti-border fence stance, she would have to convince the president and Congress to revisit federal laws mandating the barrier's construction before drastically changing the project.

Obama voted for fence construction as a senator and said little on the campaign trail to suggest he has since reversed his opinion.

"Even though Gov. Napolitano may understand the border, we'll have to see whether she does what she feels is appropriate or if she just follows orders from upstairs," Gonzalez said. "She would be an asset, if she's committed to doing what's right."

Even if many Bush-era policies are upheld, Julie Hillrichs, spokeswoman for the Texas Border Coalition, remains hopeful the next secretary of homeland security will at the very least be more open to outside voices.

"We would expect the next secretary to sit down and consult with us in good faith," she said. "It would be a welcome change from the current administration."

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The Associated Press and The Brownsville Herald contributed to this report.

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Jeremy Roebuck covers courts and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4437.