SACRAMENTO Governor Schwarzenegger has apologized for suggesting the nation's immigration problems can be solved by closing the borders to people entering the country illegally.
Schwarzenegger says he misspoke yesterday before a group of newspaper publishers in San Francisco.
The governor says his comment to close the borders was a -- quote -- "total screw up."
He says he meant to say the United States should secure its borders.
The Austrian native says he might need to go back to school to bone up on his English.
Democrats seized on the governor's blunder, saying it was an idea from political extremists and showed a narrow-minded approach to immigration.
Democratic Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez accepted the apology but says the governor should reach out more to immigrants.
The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.
Article IV, Section 4 - U.S. Constitution.