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Mexican Invasion Title: Where are the promised border troops? Where are the promised border troops? By E. J. Montini, Columnist - Jun. 20, 2010 08:25 PM The Arizona Republic . So where are the troops? Last month, President Barack Obama promised to deploy 1,200 National Guard troops to the Southwest border. Sen. John McCain said that 1,200 was "not good enough" and got the Senate Armed Services Committee to approve 6,000 troops. At least that is what we are being told, again and again, in a McCain campaign commercial. So when do the soldiers get here? Back when the president made his announcement, Gov. Jan Brewer said, "My signing of Senate Bill 1070 has clearly ignited the talk of action in Washington for the people of Arizona and other border states. I am pleased that President Obama has now, apparently, agreed that our nation must secure the border to address rampant border violence and illegal immigration." That is all well and good but . . . the troops? On Friday, Brewer's office announced that "representatives" from the White House would be coming to Arizona on June 28. Representatives are not troops. So I contacted the White House, which sent me to the Department of Homeland Security, where a spokesman in Secretary Janet Napolitano's office told me that President Obama had promised Gov. Brewer "that there were White House people who would be coming to Arizona to brief her by the end of the month and that timetable is forthcoming." Among the things that are not forthcoming, apparently, are troops. At least the 1,200 promised by the president. So I contacted Sen. McCain's campaign people to ask about his tough-talking commercial touting the 6,000 troops. I wondered if those National Guard members would be arriving soon in Arizona. The McCain campaign folks said they couldn't answer that question (in spite of the TV ad) and referred me to a spokeswoman in McCain's Washington, D.C., Senate office. It turns out that the approval for 6,000 troops that McCain got through the Senate Armed Services Committee is attached to a larger Senate bill. According to news reports, McCain's proposal might be challenged by the administration as an infringement on the authority of the commander in chief. As for the troops, a McCain spokeswoman told me that the senator has no control over when bills actually come up for a vote. Which means that no timetable for deployment could be provided. And that no one knows for sure if the McCain amendment calling for the 6,000 troops will get through Congress without changes. Or if those changes would alter the number of troops. Or when any of this would occur. The spokeswoman for the senator added, however, "Senator McCain is confident we will succeed in securing the border." That's good to know. Although I'm uncertain how that is going to happen without troops. Gov. Brewer has been urged by some in Arizona to dispatch a large contingent of Guard members on her own but said that the state doesn't have the money to fund the type of major deployment that is necessary. Expressing her anger in the weeks before signing SB 1070, Brewer said, "Arizona is frustrated, and we're going to push back." And maybe we have. But pushing back hasn't led to a major military deployment either. So I'm left wondering - or maybe not - if all this tough talk about troops has less to do with securing the border than it does with securing elections. Reach Montini at 602-444-8978 or ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com. Read more: www.azcentral.com/arizona...ontini.html#ixzz0rVm9e9sP
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