Home  / News / In the News

Montini: Obama gave Brewer twice the troops she asked for

E.J. Montini is a columnist for The Arizona Republic.

QUESTION: When is getting twice what you asked for “not enough?”

ANSWER: When you're running for governor of Arizona.

Back in April, before she decided to sign SB 1070 but after the murder of CochiseCounty rancher Robert Krentz, Gov. Jan Brewer sent a letter to President Barack Obama in which she asked for enhanced law enforcement along the Arizona border and renewed an earlier request she had made for National Guard troops. She repeated the request in a number of public appearances, according to news reports.

The increase she asked for?

250 additional troops.

Recently, the Department of Homeland Security announced the reassignment of hundreds of Border Patrol agents and customs officials to the Southwest border, as well as the deployment of 1,200 Guard troops.

The number Arizona will get?

534 troops.

In other words, the administration is sending Arizona more than twice the number of troops that Brewer requested.

Only instead of thanking the president for more than doubling the number of troops and adding numerous other law enforcement enhancements to the border the governor says that it was “not enough.” She makes appearance after appearance on friendly cable TV and radio shows in which she condemns the administration's inadequacy but never mentions that her state will receive twice the number of troops she requested.

Has the number of illegal immigrants in Arizona drastically changed in a few months? No.

Has the number of crimes being committed by illegal immigrants drastically increased? No.

Has the cost to Arizona for illegal immigration suddenly spiked? No.

The only number that has changed since Brewer's letter requesting 250 troops involves the governor's public opinion ratings.

That number went up significantly after she signed SB 1070, and it seems to go up for her and every other politician each time they proclaim that the administration's border policy is inadequate.

After it was announced that the new troops would be deployed beginning Aug. 1, Brewer's office released a statement reading: “While… more resources (are) welcomed, it does not appear to be enough or tied to a strategy to comprehensively defeat the increasingly violent drug and alien smuggling cartels that operate in Arizona on a daily basis.”

Really? Because not only are the troops double what Brewer asked for but there are a lot of the other elements being provided by Homeland Security.

Any one of us receiving more than twice what we asked for would be deemed ungrateful, disingenuous and disrespectful for not having responded with a simple “thank you.” Or perhaps even offered to return some of the excess. Or expressed a willingness to share it with others.

At the very least we would admit that is more than we requested.

Not here. Not now. Not when you're running for governor.

Why is that?