say heil hitler to janet napolitano Original Article Napolitano: Let DPS stop vehicles bound for Mexico By Howard Fischer CAPITOL MEDIA SERVICES PHOENIX - Gov. Janet Napolitano wants up to 60 DPS officers certified by the federal government to enforce customs laws - a move that would give the officers authority to stop vehicles headed into Mexico and question the occupants. The proposal, unveiled Monday, would put Department of Public Safety officers at ports of entry along the state's southern border. There, the officers would have the power to demand identification from motorists for no reason except that the vehicles were leaving the country. DPS spokesman Rick Knight said the proposal is far broader than state law, which requires officers to have a specific reason or probable cause to stop a vehicle. Knight said a key goal would be to seize stolen vehicles before they could cross the border. But he said the proposal also would give DPS officers a chance to check out everyone in the vehicle, helping them identify and arrest those who are wanted in this country. The certification would have to be approved by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Russ Knocke, spokesman for the agency, said the proposal, made in a letter from Napolitano to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, is being reviewed. Knight said it's "amazing" what people try to take into Mexico. "They show up with guns," he said, even though Mexican law prohibits individuals from bringing those into the country. "They show up with dope; they show up with all kinds of different things." Napolitano said the state had a similar pact a decade ago with the U.S. Department of Justice. That program, said Knight, proved very successful. "We've come across stolen vehicles, wanted people, recovered Jet Skis, ATVs," he said. Knight, who was one of the officers cross-certified at the time, said federal law allows vehicles leaving the country to be stopped. But that isn't always done, he said, because federal officers are overworked. "They barely have the resources to keep track of people coming into the country," he said. This plan, said Knight, would let DPS put its own officers at the border to check people leaving the United States. Napolitano's proposal was made in the latest in a series of letters between her and Chertoff on finding new ways for state and federal authorities to work together on border-related problems. That sort of cooperation got an endorsement Monday from President Bush. "That's the most effective way to do things, to work with state and local authorities," the president said Monday during a speech in El Mirage, where he was promoting new Medicare prescription drug coverage. "There are more resources that will be available," Bush said. "We'll have more folks on the border." The president assured his audience that as a former governor of Texas, a border state, he understands the problems caused by illegal entrants. "It's important for the people of this state to understand your voices are being heard in Washington, D.C.," Bush told a crowd of about 400. "We have an obligation to enforce the borders," he continued, saying a lot of people are working hard to do that. "But there is more we can do."