Obama admin ignores Arizona governor’s repeated requests to secure the border

The Obama administration claims to be committed to securing our borders, but has ignored multiple requests by a governor to use troops to secure the border.

Since Obama became president, Arizona governor Jan Brewer has sent five separate requests to deploy the state’s National Guard to the border – four last year and another on March 29.

Shockingly, none of the governor’s letters has elicited a response from the White House.

A reporter from the Tuscon television news station KGUN attempted to determine why the government isn’t listening. Instead of getting answers however, he found obstacles.

According to KGU’s website, the reporter first contacted the White House Media Affairs office, who then replied that they required copies of the governor’s letters. Once copies were sent, KGUN’s follow-up call was not answered.

Another call to the Department of Homeland Security pointed the reporter to the Department of Defense, stating the Pentagon is responsible for deploying the National Guard.

The Department of Defense representative in charge of the National Guard was not in the office, and an email was sent.

KGUN reporter Steve Nunez writes: “So, here’s the trail……6 phone calls, 4 emails, no answers. Just a couple of statements including one by Napolitano’s office that was released March 26th which states ‘the Secretary shares the Governor’s concern about the safety of U.S. border communities.’”

The White House did eventually respond to KGUN, but their response entirely avoided the deployment issue.

“The President is firmly committed to ensuring our borders are secure,” wrote White House spokesman Adam Abrams. “It is why the Administration has taken important steps – including deploying additional law enforcement resources to reduce illegal flows across the border and supporting Mexico’s efforts against drug trafficking organizations. We are carefully monitoring the situation and will continue to ensure that we are doing everything necessary to keep communities along the Southwest border safe.”

But shouldn’t being “firmly committed” mean that the administration is doing something?

They might claim to be “carefully monitoring the situation,” but the drug war currently being fought in Mexico doesn’t end at the border, which the federal government is responsible for securing. Kidnappings, death threats, and murders are spilling over into border states. The governor’s most recent request for troops came after an alleged illegal immigrant murdered a prominent Arizona rancher. And even if they are carefully monitoring our porous border with Mexico, merely monitoring the situation and not taking the necessary steps to solve the problem they are responsible for fixing is irresponsible at best – or perhaps complicit.

Exactly what “important steps” has the administration taken to “keep communities along the Southwest border safe?”

Americans are asking, but the Obama administration isn’t answering.