Puffery on Behalf of Arizona Pols?

The front-page story of Arizona’s largest newspaper, the Arizona Republic, should be required reading for  anyone weighing in on SB1070. By Dennis Wagner:

NOGALES, Ariz. – Assistant Police Chief Roy Bermudez shakes his head and smiles when he hears politicians and pundits declaring that Mexican cartel violence is overrunning his Arizona border town.

“We have not, thank God, witnessed any spillover violence from Mexico,” Bermudez says emphatically. “You can look at the crime stats. I think Nogales, Arizona, is one of the safest places to live in all of America.”

FBI Uniform Crime Reports and statistics provided by police agencies, in fact, show that the crime rates in Nogales, Douglas, Yuma and other Arizona border towns have remained essentially flat for the past decade, even as drug-related violence has spiraled out of control on the other side of the international line. Statewide, rates of violent crime also are down…

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Tags: Arizona, Boycott Arizona, Drug Cartels, Illegal Immigration, SB1070