Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano addresses the annual conference of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials on Thursday in Denver. <!--IPTC: DENVER ,CO--Janet Napolitano, Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, addresses NALEO, National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, at the Sheraton in downtown Denver Thursday afternoon. Andy Cross, The Denver Post--> (Andy Cross, The Denver Post )
After emphasizing the Obama administration's commitment to comprehensive immigration reform, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano hit hard on the issue of border security during an address Thursday in Denver.
"We are going to be very tough about enforcing our law, but we're also going to be very smart about how we enforce our laws," she told attendees at the annual conference of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.
Her talk came at a time of heightened tension over illegal immigration, just two months after Arizona passed a new law that requires police to ask people they have stopped, detained or arrested about their immigration status if there is a "reasonable suspicion" they are in

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the U.S. illegally. The law is set to take effect July 29. It came about a year after the Obama administration started the Southwest Border Initiative, cracking down on Mexican drug cartels with more manpower and technology, an improved network of information sharing, and better coordination among state, local and tribal law enforcement authorities.
"We have seized more drugs, more cash and more guns at the border than at any time in our nation's history," Napolitano said.
The Border Patrol now has 20,000 agents, twice what it had in 2004, Napolitano said, and Obama has asked Congress for "another half billion dollars for security at the border."
Still, there is much debate over the issue of comprehensive immigration reform.
"It is a bitterly divided Congress right now, bitterly partisan," Napolitano said.
Last week, Arizona Republican Sen. Jon Kyl cautioned Democrats against trying to "hold hostage the security of the border in order to get comprehensive immigration reform passed."
Napolitano, the former governor of Arizona, took aim at the flap in her remarks.
"There is a mantra in Washington, D.C., that we cannot even talk about immigration reform until we 'secure' the borders," she said. "It doesn't matter in some people's minds that we've had all these record seizures, that we're putting even more manpower, technology and infrastructure at our borders. They keep moving the goal posts."
She urged NALEO members to put pressure on those they know — from labor to faith-based communities — to work for a bipartisan congressional agreement on immigration reform.
"As a Republican, I think this is the opportunity for us to show some leadership on the issue," said Florida Rep. Juan Zapata, the chair of NALEO's Educational Fund.
Ray Martinez, a Republican who served as mayor of Fort Collins, said Democrats need to work with his party on the issue.
"There can't be any more closed-door meetings . . . like they did with health care," he said.
Polly Baca, the first female chair of the Colorado House Democratic Caucus, was "delighted" that Napolitano reaffirmed the administration's support for immigration reform.
"Until we get comprehensive immigration reform, I think we'll see states take some draconian measures similar to Arizona," she said.