Governors blast plan to lure away border agents

Gov. Janet Napolitano is chiding the Bush administration for hiring a company to lure away Border Patrol officers to serve in Iraq.

The governor, in a letter to the president, said it “makes no sense” for the State Department to try to recruit up to 120 active Border Patrol officers to help train Iraqis how to guard their own border. In fact, Dyn-Corp recruiters will be in Tucson today to meet that goal.

“We should be focused on supporting our nation’s security efforts along the Mexican and Canadian border instead of hampering CBP (Customs and Border Protection) by sending our best agents to a war zone in Iraq,” she wrote in a joint letter with New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.

Criticism from the two Democratic governors comes as the National Guard is planning to reduce the number of soldiers stationed along the U.S.-Mexico border beginning as early as July.

Capt. Kristine Munn said the phase-down had been planned all along since Bush announced “Operation Jump Start” last year. That was designed to put Guard troops along the border in a support role while new Border Patrol officers were hired and trained.

Munn said about 2,400 Guard soldiers in Arizona are part of the program. She said that will be reduced, beginning July 1, to about 1,200.