PHOENIX — Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said Friday most illegal immigrants entering Arizona are being used to transport drugs across the border, an assertion that critics painted as exaggerated and racist.
Brewer said the motivation of “a lot” of the illegal immigrants is to enter the United States to look for work, but that drug rings press them into duty as drug “mules.”
“I believe today, under the circumstances that we’re facing, that the majority of the illegal trespassers that are coming into the state of Arizona are under the direction and control of organized drug cartels and they are bringing drugs in,” Brewer said.
“There’s strong information to us that they come as illegal people wanting to come to work,” she said. “Then they are accosted and they become subjects of the drug cartel.”
Sen. Jesus Ramon Valdes, a member of the Mexican senate northern border affairs commission, called Brewer’s comments racist and irresponsible.
A Border Patrol spokesman said illegal immigrants do sometimes carry drugs across the border, but he said he couldn’t provide numbers because the smugglers are turned over to prosecutors.
Brewer on April 23 signed a controversial state immigration enforcement law that will take effect July 29 unless blocked by a court. The Arizona law requires police officers who have made a valid stop to question a person’s immigration status if there’s a reasonable suspicion that he or she is in the country illegally.
