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08/20/2010 GAAS:534:10 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Print Version | ShareThis

Governor Schwarzenegger Discusses Importance of Securing Our Borders in Weekly Radio Address Audio and YouTube links and transcript of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's weekly radio address are below.

Audio:

The 3-minute, 56-second address is available at:
http://gov.ca.gov/mp3/press/govaddre...s_08202010.mp3. The file is 922 KB.

YouTube:

The 3- minute, 58-second address is available at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax4KnKeiyyI.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger:

Hello, this is Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger with another California Report.

This week, I want to talk to you about something that is critical to the safety of our state and our nation.

And that is securing our borders.

Today, we are in the midst of a heated national debate on immigration.

But regardless of party or politics, securing our border is something we should be able to agree on.

Right now, our border is a war zone.

There is violence, murders, kidnappings, human trafficking and, of course, illegal crossings.
We have people casually walking across the border into our country with machine guns and drugs, and who knows what else because there are gaping holes in our fence and not enough border patrols.

The United States is polluted with drugs from Mexico and other countries south of us.

And let me remind you, it is not all a one-way street.

People from America are smuggling weapons into Mexico for the drug lords.

This has to stop.

We have to secure our borders and stop all the mayhem, illegal crossings and the
senseless violence.

Now three months ago, President Obama announced a plan to send 1,200 National Guard troops to help secure our Southwest border for up to one year.

So I say to myself, okay, one year, that sounds great.

But what happens after one year?

When we pull our National Guard back are they being replaced with Border Patrol?

I mean, I don’t know.

But let’s assume they are.

Is 1,200 more really enough to secure our border?

That is really the question.

I don’t think so.

What they tell me down there when I talk to the Border Patrol is they need thousands and thousands and thousands more.

As a matter of fact, I would say we need altogether 50,000 on the border.

So I wanted to, of course, participate and help.

So I support this mission.

I ordered 260 California Guardsmen to deploy to our border.

This week, I got the chance to tour the border and visit our troops in San Diego where they have been training.

Let me tell you, I am so proud to be the commander in chief of the best-trained and most capable Guard in the nation.

In fact, I am proud to say that our National Guard troops are the first in the nation to be trained and ready for this mission.

Now, back in 1986, when Washington did comprehensive immigration reform, they promised the American people they would secure the border once and for all.

But for more than two decades the federal government has failed to meet that fundamental responsibility.

They have broken their promise.

That is why the American people are fed up.

That is why they have lost faith in their leaders and in government.

Securing the border has to be our number one responsibility.

Yes, it is a great challenge.
It will not be easy.

But unless we take this seriously, we will always be a step behind.

This is why I urge President Obama and Congress to take swift and bold action.

We need more manpower, more infrastructure, more surveillance, more of everything
to stop this craziness.

And we also need, once and for all, comprehensive immigration reform.

Thank you for watching, and thank you for listening.