Arizona asks for cash to seal border

Arizona lawmakers have called on private citizens to donate $50 million (about £30 million) to fund a controversial? prisoner-built fence along its southern border with Mexico.

Backers of a new fundraising website claim that insecure boundaries have resulted in an "unparalleled invasion of drug cartels, violent gangs, an estimated 20 million illegal aliens and even terrorists".

But critics have hit out at the proposal to privately fund the fence, in one of America's most conservative states, accusing Arizona's Republican-led legislature of playing politics on the issue of immigration.

About one-third of America's 2,000-mile border with Mexico is already fenced. Earlier this year, Arizona's state parliament voted to allow private contributions for a scheme to close off all of the state's section.

To keep costs down, authorities would draw upon the state's prison population to carry out the work, politicians agreed.

The website was launched this week as part of a drive for funds through which people could donate cash. Those clicking on www.buildtheborderfence.com have the option of giving anything from five dollars upwards.

In a patriotic call for cash donations on the website, Arizona state senator Steve Smith invokes John F Kennedy's famous words in telling Arizonans to "ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country".

"Your contribution is vital for the security of our great nation," his address to would-be donors concludes.

In the first 17 hours of going live, the site had seen 884 people pledge money, with total donations close to $40,000.

Although some way short of the amount needed, backers are confident that the scheme will raise sufficient cash to get the fence built.

Arizona state senate president Russell Pearce, another supporter of the website, said: "I know where America stands. We have a nation at risk. And why are we going to build a fence? Because you'll never get it built by the federal government."

An existing fence currently covers 650 miles of the US-Mexico border, and ranges from simple barbed wire to 30-foot high barriers.

Smugglers have been known to cut through it, dig under it or simply climb over to illegally gain access to the US.

But critics of Arizona's fence plan say the move is politically motivated.

Immigrant rights campaigner Jaime Farrant of the Border Action Network said: "This is just an expensive thing that will do nothing to solve the problems of the immigration system.

"They are not addressing the reality of the situation. We need a system through which people can legally come to the US.

"They are trying to damage the reputation of border communities, but crime has been decreasing in the border towns."

She added: "This is just politics. They say the federal government has done nothing. But Obama has done more than any other administration in history."The proposed fence is the latest move by conservatives in Arizona's state legislature to crack down on illegal immigration.

Last year, lawmakers voted in tough provisions which would have allowed police officers to stop and question an individual over their immigration status on the suspicion that they were in the county illegally.

Critics said the measure amounted to racial profiling and a day before it was enacted a judge blocked the move.