WASHINGTON — Facing off over illegal immigration, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer told President Barack Obama that Americans “want our border secured” and called Thursday for completion of a separating fence. Obama underscored his objections that the tough immigration law she signed is discriminatory.
Meeting in the Oval Office, Obama said Arizona’s law and similar efforts by more than 20 states would interfere with the federal government’s responsibility to set and enforce immigration policy.
Neither side appeared to give ground on the contentious issue, although both talked about seeking a bipartisan solution.
Obama urged her to “be his partner” in working toward a comprehensive overhaul of the nation’s fractured immigration system. Brewer said afterward that she told Obama her state is not ready for the comprehensive solution he favors.
“I said we need to have the fence completed, have more troops on the border and more resources” for aerial surveillance, she said.
The meeting Thursday between the Democratic president and the Republican governor was a byproduct of Brewer’s decision to sign a first-in-the-nation law requiring police enforcing other laws to check immigration status if they suspect someone is in the country illegally. The law also makes being in the U.S. illegally a state crime. Brewer sought the meeting, and the White House accepted.
Discussion to continue
Emerging from the half-hour session, Brewer said Obama had assured her that the majority of the 1,200 National Guard troops he is sending to the U.S.-Mexico border would be going to her state.
Brewer said she and Obama, at odds over how to control illegal immigration, also agreed to try to work together on solutions. She said White House staff would visit Arizona in a couple of weeks to continue the “very cordial discussion” she had with the president.
“I believe the people of Arizona, the people of America, want our border secured,” Brewer said.
Outside the White House, hundreds of protesters, as unhappy with the law as they are with Obama’s inability to overhaul a system he and others say is broken, noisily greeted the governor as she arrived for the meeting. Nearly 200 people walked on the pedestrian-only portion of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House — holding signs, chanting “Jan Brewer, shame on you!” beating drums and, in the case of one man, strumming a guitar.
Obama looking for fixes
The Arizona law is scheduled to take effect July 29, unless it is blocked by a court under pending legal challenges.
Brewer said Obama declined to discuss whether the Justice Department plans to file a lawsuit to block the law before it takes effect. But she called her meeting with the president a victory, saying she has “more today than I had yesterday,” referring to the commitment that White House staff will visit Arizona.
Brewer has said she signed the law because she thinks Washington had failed to do its part to protect the U.S.-Mexico border.
Obama said Thursday in an interview that he understands the frustration in Arizona over the influx of illegal immigrants from Mexico but that Arizona’s law is the wrong way to go about solving the problem.
“I think this puts American citizens who . . . are Hispanic potentially in an unfair situation,” he told CNN’s Larry King.
Obama has been more outspoken on the issue recently. He has restated his desire to fix the system in a way that would tighten access to the border, help millions of illegal immigrants become U.S. citizens and crack down on employers who knowingly hire them.
He also has reminded advocates that Democrats have only 59 votes in the Senate — one short of the number needed to overcome GOP stalling tactics.
The Washington Post contributed to this report.
