Senate comes to AZ to talk immigration

The U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee came to Phoenix Monday to discuss border issues, including the growing drug cartel wars in Mexico.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a member of the committee said the drug wars don't just affect Mexico.

"The lawlessness and the murder and the mayhem that is accompanying it is clearly a problem for the United States."

McCain added, "For the first time in the last couple of years, the Mexican government and the U.S. are working cooperatively together. We just have to do a lot, lot more."

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, Attorney General Terry Goddard and other officials from Arizona were to testify at the hearing at Phoenix City Hall. The list included Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, Tohono O'odham Nation Chairman Ned Norris Jr. and Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever.

Notably absent was Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who has been at the center of a controversy over enforcement of federal immigration laws. The sheriff said he would appear, instead, on Stephen Colbert's Comedy Central Show in New York to discuss his stance on illegal immigration laws and calls for his resignation by the Rev. Al Sharpton and others.

Goddard said, "I hope that through this hearing and some others, we are able to focus a real bright light on the problem of cartel violence, the fact that Mexico has been literally in a bloody war and some of that violence has already spilled over into the United States, specifically Arizona."

He added, "I'm very hopeful that it's part of a process that will help. There's already been a significant increase in homeland security resources being sent to the border. I don't think that's the whole answer, though. I think what we need is coordination among all different federal players."

The committee's chairman, Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., has said he plans to seek $380 million in additional funding to help law enforcement stop the flow of guns and drugs across the border.