Border troubles draw reporters to Arizona from across the globe

By Brady McCombs

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Italian journalist Mario Calabresi didn't need long to decide where he wanted to visit when the U.S. Department of State offered him a free trip to the United States.

With debate ongoing in his own country about how to deal with illegal immigrants from northern Africa, Calabresi — managing editor of Italy's second-largest newspaper, La Repubblica — wanted to see how the discourse was affecting elections in the United States. So he asked to go to the busiest section of the U.S.-Mexican border — Arizona.

While in Southern Arizona for five days in late October, he visited the border, attended political debates and met with outgoing Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz.; Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz.; and Republican Randy Graf, who lost to Giffords in his bid to succeed Kolbe.

Calabresi, who has since moved from Rome to New York to work as one of his newspaper's U.S. correspondents, also visited Ohio and Texas during his two-week visit.

"For me it was really interesting, because we have the same problems in Italy," Ca-labresi said. "You have the desert, we have the sea, and our illegal immigrants arrive from North Africa by boat. We have similar discussions in Italy, and I heard the same kind of political debate as in my country."