Who says this administration has transparency problems? It’s perfectly clear that their recent doings on border security and immigration reform are driven purely by politics.
Exhibit A: Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano’s recent testimony that our border with Mexico has never been more secure. “I say this again, as someone who has walked that border, ridden it, flown it, and driven it,” she said. “I believe it is as secure as it ever has been.”
That claim didn’t fly, so now the president is throwing 1,200 troops at the secure-as-ever border. Subtracting the support and command personnel, that translates into a “surge” of just a couple hundred more troops to actively patrol a 2,000-mile border…in shifts (for 24/7 operations). Does anyone believe this will plug the holes?
Neither Napolitano’s comment nor the president’s decision makes sense — unless you view them as political band-aids meant to get people to stop talking about this broken-borders stuff.
Any doubt about where the administration’s heart lies on the topic? Then consider the pep rally Attorney General Eric Holder held today for state and local law enforcement officials who object to Arizona’s immigration law. It’s not often you see the nation’s chief law-enforcement officer stage a partisan attack on a state for trying to uphold federal immigration law. For more on this, see this PDF.