WASHINGTON – Few people have been closer to the center of the debate over illegal immigration than Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, the top Democrat in a conservative state with little sympathy for illegal immigrants.
While taking a law-and-order posture on immigration enforcement, Napolitano has opposed the construction of a 700-mile fence along the Mexican border and stressed that policing immigration is a federal responsibility.
Now, as President-elect Barack Obama's nominee to head the Department of Homeland Security, she won't be able to pass that buck anymore. It will be her task to enforce the nation's immigration laws, and her selection might be a signal that Obama wants to chart a moderate course on a volatile issue.
Napolitano's job will be among the toughest in Washington for other reasons, too. She must guide an octopus-like collection of two dozen federal agencies charged with protecting Americans from terrorism and natural disasters.
Her selection drew high praise Monday from key Democratic lawmakers and Republicans like the current homeland security chief, Michael Chertoff, and her home-state senator, John McCain. They said that as a border governor, former U.S. attorney and state attorney general, she has the right mix of managerial skills, law-enforcement experience and understanding of the heated immigration issue to handle the challenges.
In introducing her, Obama said Napolitano "has spent her career protecting people" as a law-enforcement official and governor, and "knows firsthand the need to have a partner in Washington that works well with state and local governments."
James Ziglar, the last commissioner of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service under President George W. Bush before Congress shifted its functions to the new Department of Homeland Security in 2003, said: "I think she is very understanding of the immigration issue."
"She's a very pragmatic, practical person who understands that enforcement is really important, but that ... we have to have a way for people to come and go legally and serve the needs of our country in terms of labor and immigration," he said.
While immigration reform efforts have collapsed in Congress in recent years, Ziglar predicted Napolitano would work with "middle-of-the-road Republicans ... to get some meaningful change."
Mike Signer, a senior policy officer on homeland security for the Center for American Progress Action Fund, a liberal research group, said that Napolitano will have a big say in whether to reshape her unwieldy department into "a more nimble, security-focused agency." But first, he said, she must contend with a "staffing crisis" because of a shortage of skilled people for key midlevel jobs in the agency.
As a governor, Signer said, Napolitano should be open to learning from innovative work by cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Seattle, which are pioneering ways to infiltrate potential extremist groups and strengthen surveillance.
Call Greg Gordon, McClatchy Washington Bureau, (202) 383-0005.
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