Sheriff's Challenge to President Obama

Sheriff Paul Babeu of Pinal County Arizona, is issuing an invtation to President Barack Obama: If the president will come and spend a half hour with Babeu in Arizona, the sheriff says, he will convince the president he can succeed in securing the border and thus make himself a hero who transcends partisan politics. Babeu's southern Arizona county, while not contiguous with the border, has been designated by the Justice Department as part of a High Intensity Drug Trafficing region that is a major route for drug and alien smugglers bringing narcotics and illegal aliens into the United States from Mexico. Babeu has joined with Sheriff Larry Dever of neighboring Cochise County, Arizona which does sit on the border as well as with Arizona's two senators, John McCain and Jon Kyl, in endorsing a ten point plan for securing the border. Noting that President Obama has visited Afghanistan to assess the security situation there, CNSNews asked Babeu in a videotaped interview whether ne would like the president to visit with him in Arizona so he can have the opportunity to persuade the president that his plan to secure the border will work. " If the president gave me a half hour I am confident that I could convince him and show him the way that he can personally secure the border, and he would be the hero of everybody that truly transcends bipartisan politics and secures that border." said Babeu. "I believe that if a leader truly wanted to do that we have the means and the resources necessary to secure our border and to protect America once and for all, and then we can get to the point in the future, only after the border is secure, that there is some type discussion about what to do with the approximate 13 million people who are here illegally." The ten point border security plan backed by Sheriffs Babeu and Dever and Senators McCain and Kyl includes provisions to complete 700 miles of double and triple layerd dorder fencing, significantly increase the number of drone survelliance aircraft patrolling the border and deploy 3,000 National Guardsmen to the Arizona sector of the Mexico until the Govennor of Arizona in conjunction with local law enforcement officials certifies that the border is secure. In addition to serving as sheriff of Pinal County Arizona, Babeu has served 18 years in the Army National Guard, where he is now a Major. Babeu did a tour in Iraq, and also commanded Task Force Yuma a group of 700 Army and Air National Guard troops who worked with the Border Patrol on securing the US-Mexico border in Arizona.