Last Monday, when Katrina was hitting New Orleans, Bush was giving a speech in Arizona. He did mention the hurricane.
I know my fellow citizens here in Arizona and across the country are saying our prayers for those affected by the -- Hurricane Katrina. Our Gulf Coast is getting hit and hit hard. I want the folks there on the Gulf Coast to know that the federal government is prepared to help you when the storm passes. I want to thank the governors of the affected regions for mobilizing assets prior to the arrival of the storm to help citizens avoid this devastating storm.
I urge the citizens there in the region to continue to listen to the local authorities. Don't abandon your shelters until you're given clearance by the local authorities. Take precautions because this is a dangerous storm. When the storm passes, the federal government has got assets and resources that we'll be deploying to help you. In the meantime, America will pray -- pray for the health and safety of all our citizens.
That is all he would say about the hurricane while he then moved onto immigration reform and Medicare. But there was an interesting thing he did mention:
I also want to talk about immigration here in this state. I understand the issue well. I was the governor of a border state; I was the governor of the state of Texas. I know what it means to have a long border with Mexico. And I understand the solemn obligation of the state government and the federal government to enforce our border. I did so when I was governor, and I'll work with your governor and governors along the border to do so as the President of the United States. We have an obligation to enforce the borders. (Applause.)
I understand it's putting a strain on your resources. We know that. I don't know if you know this or not, but hundreds of thousands of people have been detained, trying to illegally cross into Arizona. In other words, what I'm telling you is, there's a lot of people working hard to get the job done, but there is more we can do.
I spoke to Mike Chertoff today -- he's the head of the Department of Homeland Security. I knew people would want me to discuss this issue, so we got us an airplane on -- a telephone on Air Force One, so I called him. I said, are you working with the governor? He said, you bet we are. That's the most effective way to do things, is to work with the state and local authorities. There are more resources that will be available, we'll have more folks on the border; there will be more detention space to make sure that those who are stopped trying to illegally enter our country are able to be detained.
It's important for the people of this state to understand your voices are being here in Washington. D.C. And this Senator and this Congressman are working closely with the administration to make sure we got the resources necessary to do our responsibility, which is enforce this border. And we'll do so. And we'll do so. (Applause.)
So, while Katrina was hitting the Mississippi Gulf Coast, resulting in the greatest natural catastrophe our nation has experienced, the President called the head of Homeland Security, the man in charge of what was going on there, and asked him if he was talking to the governor of Arizona about illegal aliens?
I wonder if there was any discussion of Katrina at all during that phone call. Perhaps the reason FEMA and DHS were distracted last Monday was because they were worrying about the Arizona border rather than New Orleans.
I really loved that Bush had to explain who Chertoff was, not knowing that because of the then ongoing event, Chertoff would become a household name in a matter of hours. 9:12:00 AM 
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