Does Brewer’s border ‘surge’ support matter?

Does it matter that Gov. Jan Brewer supports the border “surge” being proposed as part of the U.S. Senate’s immigration and border-security legislation?

Will Brewer’s support of the surge have any effect on whether immigration reform moves forward in Washington? Short answer: no. And that’s too bad. “I really, really am claiming victory for Arizona in regards to the border surge. I was writing to the federal government and to Senator Schumer way back in June of 2010 in regards to the border surge that we needed to see completed before we move forward,” Brewer was quoted as saying Monday in an interview on Fox News. “So, today, hopefully, that will get out of the Senate, and we can see that they are going to move forward, so I’m very pleased about that.”

The sheer weight of the additional security measures added to the “Gang of Eight’s” original proposal should generate a substantial majority of support for the bill in the Senate. And it means something when a border hawk like Brewer gives her seal of approval.

But what about the House?

According to Republican Sen. Rand Paul, an opponent of the legislation, “It will pass the Senate, but it’s dead on arrival in the House. The House is much closer to me, and I think they think border security has to come first before you get immigration reform.”

Gov. Brewer isn’t endorsing the Gang of Eight’s bill yet, just the “surge” part. She said by way of Twitter, “I am confident House Republicans will improve this bill and make it workable for the American people.” I doubt that. The fact is, a number of House Republicans will use the border-security-first argument to try to prevent any type of action. For them, the border will never be secure enough to move forward with immigration reform. They’re stuck in a mind-set Arizonans have seen in former state Senate President Russell Pearce, who told me once that the nation could revive a program from the 1950s and round up the tens of millions of illegal immigrants in the country and ship them out of the country. If only we had the will.

As ridiculous (and physically impossible) as that notion is, it persists.

Which could leave us with the same mess we’ve been dealing with for generations. We all agree that the current immigration situation is unacceptable ... and then continue to elect politicians who perpetuate the problem.