Using a new state-supported website, donors can now chip in to help Arizona build a fence to prevent illegal immigrants from crossing into the state along its border with Mexico. 
 
 Build the Border Fence, which aims to raise $50 million, was launched as a bill authorizing construction of a barrier took effect on Wednesday. That bill was sponsored by state Sen. Steve Smith (R), who has helped spearhead the execution of the website. 
 
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 “This is not an Arizona problem, this is an American problem,” Smith told POLITICO in an interview. 
 
 “Arizona did not want to take on this battle and we don’t want to petition American people. It’s because of the fact that the federal government cannot [build a national border fence] that we don’t sit idly by,” he added. 
 
 Smith said drug cartel violence and even the possibility of border-jumping terrorism fueled the need for private donations, which will be used to finance border fence construction. The Mexico-Arizona border is about 400 miles long. 
 
 Donations are tax deductible, says the website, which features the state seal. The site says it is “the official border fence donation service for the state of Arizona.” Republican Governor Jan Brewer’s office referred questions about the website to Smith, who said the site “certainly is through the state, though not on the state home page.” 
 
 “This is something we have a tremendous amount of fanfare about, it’s something people can tangibly” wrap their heads around, Smith said, comparing it favorably to a website for Keep AZ Safe. That website allows the public to donate funds to Arizona to support anti-illegal immigration measure SB 1070, which was signed by Brewer last year. That site has raised almost $1.6 million in an effort to fight back resistance from courts and the Obama administration, which oppose some controversial measures in the legislation. 
 
 Smith said he hopes some of the initial funds raised could be used to finance an “infomercial-type broadcast across the country” to help solicit more donors. 
 
 Arizona Republican state Sen. Al Melvin has suggested using inmate labor to build the fence in order to cut down on costs. 
 
 State Democrats and immigration advocates have criticized the construction of additional barriers as a piece-meal approach. 
 
 Ali Noorani, the executive director of the National Immigration Forum, called the call for Internet donations to build a fence a “political stunt” and said there are more important things to focus on in the immigration debate than a wall. 
 
 “Spending on a fence is bad public policy,” Noorani said.”The mechanics of this are very murky. The data proves that a wall is a waste of money.” 
 
 In remarks made when she was governor of Arizona, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said as much in 2005. 
 
 “You show me a 50-foot wall and I’ll show you a 51-foot ladder at the border. That’s the way the border works,” Napolitano said. ||||| Supporters of increased border enforcement now can help Arizona build its own fence along the Mexico border. 
 
 A new law went into effect today that allows the state to build the fence, as long as it can raise enough private donations and persuade public and private landowners to let it be done on their property. A new website for the effort, www.buildtheborderfence.com, was set to go online at midnight. 
 
 No other state has tried such a tactic. 
 
 Sen. Steve Smith, R-Maricopa, who sponsored the legislation, hopes to raise at least $50 million from donors across the nation. 
 
 "Donate to the country's security," Smith said. "This is an American problem, not an Arizona problem." 
 
 State lawmakers who supported the law have said they want a consistent fence along the entire border that is solid, has multiple layers and is tall enough to keep out pedestrians. Smith said the effort also could include more high-tech security efforts. 
 
 The state's southern border is about 370 miles long. About a third of that, mostly in the western part of the state between Yuma and Nogales, has the type of fence lawmakers want. The rest either has no fencing or has fencing designed to keep out vehicles. In that part of the state, the fence is only a few feet tall and is made of barbed wire or wooden posts. Smith said most illegal immigrants cross into the eastern part of Arizona over that more porous border. 
 
 According to a 2009 U.S. Government Accountability Office report, it has cost the federal government about $3 million a mile to build the type of fence that would keep pedestrians out. 
 
 Smith said Arizona's final cost would depend on what kind of a fence is constructed and whether the state can get private companies to donate some of the construction supplies. State lawmakers have said they could save money by using inmate labor to build the fence. 
 
 The effort doesn't have official non-profit status for tax purposes, but Smith said the website has a letter from the state consular general stating that there is precedent in Arizona that donations to a state or political subdivision are tax deductible. 
 
 "We aren't taking an official position on that, but consult your tax professional," Smith said. "Take that letter to your accountant." 
 
 The Legislature's Joint Border Security Advisory Committee, on which Smith serves, will determine what type of fence will be built and then manage construction. 
 
 Getting permission from landowners will determine where the fence can be built. 
 
 Much of the Arizona border is on federal land or Indian reservations, with small portions belonging to private landowners. Smith said the easiest solution would be for the federal government to give permission to build the fence within its 60-foot easement along the border. 
 
 "Let's hope the federal government will allow us to do it," Smith said. "But if they say no, we have a contingency." 
 
 Smith said he already has begun talking to private landowners and has support from several to build on their property, even if it means the fence has to go miles north of the border. 
 
 "We've identified three highly trafficked areas that are notorious that we have pretty good access to," he said. "And as we continue to raise awareness and funds, I hope the federal government says, 'Go ahead and build whatever you want to build.'" 
 
 The Sierra Club opposes the law. It says Arizona already has more border walls than any other state and that the walls have caused flooding in some areas and have blocked wildlife in other areas. 
 
 "Arizona has been slammed by federally imposed, ineffective walls that cost taxpayers millions per mile," said Dan Millis, program coordinator for the Sierra Club borderlands campaign, in a media release. "Donations toward more border walls will not provide much bang for the buck." ||||| Associated Press Tue Feb 19, 2013 7:44 PM 
 
 Arizona took center stage in the national immigration debate Tuesday as Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano toured the state’s border with Mexico and Sen. John McCain defended his proposed immigration overhaul to an angry crowd in suburban Phoenix. 
 
 The presence of the top officials is the latest sign that Arizona will play a prominent role in the immigration debate as President Barack Obama looks to make it a signature issue of his second term. 
 
 Napolitano toured the border near Nogales with the highest-ranking official at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the incoming chairman of the Senate’s homeland security committee and an Arizona congressman. Napolitano, Arizona’s former governor, said afterward that comprehensive immigration reform will strengthen the nation’s border against criminals and other threats. 
 
 Also Tuesday, McCain hosted two town hall meetings in Arizona, during which he defended his immigration plan to upset residents concerned about border security. A bipartisan group of senators — including Arizona Republicans McCain and Jeff Flake — want assurances on border security as Congress weighs what could be the biggest changes to immigration law in nearly 30 years. Arizona is the only state with both of its senators working on immigration reform in Congress, a sign of the state’s widely debated border security issues. 
 
 Immigration activists and elected officials say it’s only natural for Arizona to continue to take the forefront in the national conversation on immigration after years of internal debate on how to handle scores of immigrants. 
 
 “No state in this country has had more experience with enforcement-only immigration laws than Arizona,” said Todd Landfried, executive director of Arizona Employers for Immigration Reform, which opposes the state’s tough immigration laws. 
 
 During a heated town hall gathering in the Phoenix suburb of Sun Lakes, McCain said the border near Yuma is largely secure, but said smugglers are using the border near Tucson to pump drugs into Phoenix. He said immigration reform should be contingent on better border security that must rely largely on technology able to detect border crossings. 
 
 He said a tamper-proof Social Security card would help combat identity fraud, and noted any path to citizenship must require immigrants to learn English, cover back taxes and pay fines for breaking immigration laws. 
 
 “There are 11 million people living here illegally,” McCain said. “We are not going to get enough buses to deport them.” 
 
 Some audience members shouted out their disapproval. 
 
 One man yelled that only guns would discourage illegal immigration. Another man complained that illegal immigrants should never be able to become citizens or vote. A third man said illegal immigrants were illiterate invaders who wanted free government benefits. 
 
 McCain urged compassion. “We are a Judeo-Christian nation,” he said. McCain’s other town hall meeting took place in Green Valley, south of Tucson. 
 
 Arizona gained international recognition as an epicenter of the U.S. immigration debate when it passed its tough anti-immigrant law in 2010. A handful of other states — including Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Utah — have since adopted variations of Arizona’s law. 
 
 Arizona has the nation’s eighth-highest population of illegal immigrants, according to the Pew Research Hispanic Center. In 2010, illegal immigrants represented roughly 6 percent of the state’s population. 
 
 Activists said Arizona’s anti-immigrant laws inspired many illegal immigrants to demand more rights. Last week, some college students rallied outside Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer’s office for driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants. 
 
 “They no longer are afraid to come and say, ‘I am not able to vote, but I can make my voice heard, and they have to listen to me,’” said community organizer Abril Gallardo. 
 
 A report released in January showed the U.S. Border Patrol’s Tucson sector remains the busiest along the U.S.-Mexico border. The Tucson sector accounted for 38 percent of all drug seizures and 37 percent of all apprehensions along the border. 
 
 Brewer said last week the border cannot be declared safe until the people living near it feel secure from drug human trafficking. 
 
 But Democratic Congresswoman Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona told Latino and black community leaders at a Phoenix luncheon Tuesday that Arizonans need to spread the word on how much more secure the border has become. 
 
 “There are lots of folks who don’t live in Arizona who have no idea what the border is like,” Sinema said. 
 
 Napolitano toured the border Tuesday afternoon with U.S. Customs and Border Protection Deputy Commissioner David Aguilar, Democratic Rep. Ron Barber of Arizona and Democratic Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware. Carper is the incoming chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. 
 
 She said in a statement after the tour that border crossings are down 50 percent since 2008 and 78 percent since their peak in 2000.
– Arizona's message to the feds: Forget you guys, we're building our own fence. Thanks to new legislation, the state is taking illegal immigration into its own hands and is now accepting private donations to build a wall at the Mexican border. Lawmakers have set up a website where anyone can contribute to help raise the estimated $50 million needed, reports the Arizona Republic. "Donate to the country's security," said state Sen. Steve Smith, who sponsored the legislation. "This is an American problem, not an Arizona problem." The leader of the National Immigration Forum thinks it's a lousy idea. “Spending on a fence is bad public policy,” Ali Noorani tells Politico. ”The mechanics of this are very murky. The data proves that a wall is a waste of money."