Arizona State Lawmaker Proposes Citizen-Militia Force To Patrol Border (VIDEO)

Arizona State Rep.-elect Jack Harper, a Republican, announced Monday his plan to submit legislation that would pave the way for the creation of a citizen-militia force to protect his state's border with Mexico.

His bill would establish the "Homeland Security Force," Harper told Fox News on Monday. The outfit would supplement the National Guard troops currently at the border, which Obama reinforced in 2010.

Harper, a rabid cost-cutting conservative who once sparked outrage with a blunt letter warning Arizonans that he was planning to sever entitlement-program lifelines in order to address a mounting budget crisis, claims that the National Guard is too expensive and the Border Patrol is too weak.

"It'd be volunteers trained by volunteers, maybe with -- with, definitely, oversight by the Arizona Army National Guard -- that shouldn't take more than one full-time employee and maybe about $50,000, $60,000 a year of state funding," he said. "Border Patrol's under -- you know, it's under Janet Napolitano, and that's not really an intimidating factor."

KTAR reports that Harper, formerly an Arizona state senator, was thwarted in his previous attempts at similar legislation:

Harper, a Republican who represents the northwest Valley, got a bill passed in 2007, but it was vetoed by then-Gov. Janet Napolitano, who moved on to become the secretary of Homeland Security.

But with Republican Gov. Jan Brewer now in power and apparently willing to implement controversial tactics to combat illegal immigration, Harper has renewed hopes for his measure.

"They have not come out against creating the Homeland Security Force," Harper said of Brewer's response to his initiative. "But they have come out saying that they're apprehensive about funding securing the border when it is the federal government's responsibility."

WATCH:

Comments

[Tony Anzalone]

11:36 PM on 02/06/2011

Nativism is not new and neither is the the hatred of immigrants. History has shown the nativists to be on the wrong side of the issue and I belive that will be the case again.

[Dax Dushkewich]

10:18 PM on 01/15/2011

Critical SAFE Fundraiser – UPDATE: $1,770 To Go
http://patdollard.com/2011/01/new-safe-on-the-border-episode-and-patrol-base-6k/

we need to “band-aid” and bridge the time gap to close these sources with an internal fundraiser here. We’re over halfway there. Please help us out if you support our cause, because right now, the help is critical.

Ex mil/ and Law Enforcement.. are risking there lives on the border.. Please Help.. The Fed won't

[Tony Anzalone]

11:51 PM on 02/06/2011

You are asking people to ive money to a group that believes Obama is a Muslim and calls themselves "jihadi killers" Here is the title of one of your articles.
"Erstwhile Muslim Brother Obama Moves Brutally To Enforce His Muslim Brotherhood Coup, Tells Mubarak To Get The Hell Out With “Now Means Now”!"

Please take your hate speach and bein somewhere else.

[treeshack]

02:14 AM on 01/10/2011

If you want to see how bad things really are at the border, watch Border Wars on the National Geographic Channel. Those guys are overwhelmed and can't do the job at present staffing levels.

[kryan74]

05:28 PM on 01/05/2011

Did you miss the part of the article that said more troops were sent in 2010?

What part of AZ is controlled by Mexican drug gangs?

Nogales, AZ has not had a homicide in THREE YEARS.
Nogales, MEXICO, it's a different story thyere.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
for the uniformed and ignorant
http://goo.gl/MalB7
http://goo.gl/9vgc

I cannot help but laugh at some of the liberals on here thinking they understand the situation. You have only an ideology to gauge what the real problem is. Fact of the matter is that parts of a US state are restricted because the danger level is too high. Give up the civil rigthts nonsense. People are dying on a daily basis and all you can think about is racism. Come down and look for yourself. People far removed from the problem that are making charges against AZ look foolish and ignorant.

By the way, you are a little off on your total of deaths in Nogales. Try more like 223 murders in 2010. Please stop posting nonsense.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/07/06/20100706nogales-mexico-drug-cartel-killings.html

[Chauncey1186]

02:00 PM on 01/05/2011

Is it just me, or are they reeeeeally slow at approving comments on this thread?

[barknasty]

01:22 PM on 01/05/2011

Apparently there are severed heads in Arizona statehouse!

[ROBINB72]

01:07 PM on 01/05/2011

I wish the GOPer's had the same energy to pass bills to tax companies that outsource American jobs, but not, they relax taxes and laws on them..

[greyhound2]

08:00 PM on 01/05/2011

Agreed.

[darthmaul]

12:46 PM on 01/05/2011

Jack, make sure your militia is equipped with the following ,mandatory equipment:

1) Lethal assault rifles
2) Lawn chairs
3) Plenty of beer

[Lost Rights]

12:44 PM on 02/06/2011

Sounds like 4th of July in the Mountains.

[TXconfidnz]

12:40 PM on 01/05/2011

Great! Another failure waiting to happen.

Why don't we ever here about a citizens' militia materializing that will go after the businesses, large and small, and church missions that hire, house, and harbor the aliens in the first place? If it's all about securing the border, it simply won't work as this problem is more about the means (ie ready and waiting jobs, sanctuary) that gets these folks across the border to begin with. Get something started against THAT particular pipeline and I would say that it would be a just cause. The people that are the MOST guilty in all of this are our very own citizens in the majority of cases.

[Mondayboy]

12:22 PM on 01/05/2011

what do you think the ges tapo were made of? citizen militia. see where we are headed?

[jcarterla]

12:20 PM on 01/05/2011

What a wonderful idea. I'll be setting my stopwatch to countdown until the first militia member shoots someone. Why are conservatives so afraid all the time?

[blackraisin]

01:09 PM on 01/05/2011

Its a non-partisan citizen's militia.

[Phil11514]

04:32 AM on 01/06/2011

They h@te EVERYBODY, in other words.

[bcantrll]

12:18 PM on 01/05/2011

Not with my tax money.

[pamihami]

12:04 PM on 01/05/2011

Great idea. Americans doing what they have to do to secure our borders. God bless them.

[PatLow]

12:25 PM on 01/05/2011

You going to sign up?

[WOODSTOCKER51]

11:42 AM on 01/05/2011

IS HE GOING TO NAME THEM THE 'BROWN SHIRT BORDER PATROL?"...

.LET ME GUESS.THEY WILL ALL WEAR JACKBOOTS TOO.........

[b1rd67]

11:30 AM on 01/05/2011

I think the idea is ok with the caveat that they can't be armed and they have no authority to use deadly force. They can be Border Mall Cops.... Observe a Report

[blackraisin]

01:11 PM on 01/05/2011

Most State Defense Forces are exactly that. I see no cause for concern.