PHOENIX - Gov. Jan Brewer unveiled her border security plan Thursday that consists largely of moving around funding for existing National Guard units, providing one-time grants for local law enforcement - and railing against the Obama administration for failing to do more.
In a press conference at the state's National Guard headquarters, Brewer said it is the not the job of state government to secure the border.
"But we have no other choice,'' she said. "Those who have failed to protect us have shown only weakness and delay.''
She said President Obama and his top officials have "simply turned a blind eye to the issues that Arizona is being overrun by illegal immigration, terrorizing the citizens.''
"No matter the cost, no matter the sacrifice, we cannot shirk government's principle responsibilities to the citizens we serve to provide safety and security,'' she said.
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But Brewer, citing the condition of the state budget, said there actually is only so much the state can do on its own.
One of the changes is to reorganize federal funding the state already gets for its Joint Counterterrorism/Narcotics Task Force.
Hugo Salazar, the adjutant general of the Arizona National Guard, said shifting those dollars would allow for more soldiers to spend more time in the border area.
But he stressed that Guard soldiers are not law enforcement personnel and won't be out looking for and apprehending illegal immigrants.
Brewer's announcement comes as she is weighing whether to sign legislation aimed at giving police more power to stop and arrest illegal immigrants.
The measure requires police officers, when practical, to ask people they contact whether they are in this country legally. And while it precludes race and ethnicity from being used as the sole factor for determining who to question, those factors can be part of the consideration.
Brewer, who must sign or veto the bill before Sunday — or let it become law without her signature — said she has not yet made a decision. And the governor said she will not be pressured into moving any faster, either way, by the protests that have made national news.
And the governor also faces a call by U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, a Democratic congressman from Tucson, for businesses to avoid Arizona for their meetings and conferences.
That is the same kind of boycott that many businesses conducted in the late 1980s until Arizona finally enacted a state holiday honoring slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Brewer was in the Legislature at that time.
She does not support what Grijalva is proposing.
"I think that would be really unfortunate situation, you know,'' Brewer said. "We certainly wouldn't like to see that happen.''
But she sidestepped a question of whether the threat of an economic boycott would figure in her decision whether to sign or veto the measure.
"I would hope that wouldn't take place,'' she said.
Grijalva, on Thursday, defended his call and said it simply reflects reality — a reality that lawmakers and the governor need to realize has an economic impact.
