TUCSON, May 19 (UPI) -- Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano has opposed a contractor's policy to recruit border agents for Iraq, citing the need for such officials in the United States.
Napolitano has taken her complaints on border security to President George W. Bush, saying a deal made between the military contractor and the U.S. State Department "makes no sense," The Arizona Republic said Saturday.
Napolitano said that with Dyncorp offering higher wages and benefits to border agents if they will practice their trade in Iraq, U.S. border security will suffer.
"We should be focused on supporting our nation's security efforts along the Mexican and Canadian border instead of hampering (Customs and Border Patrol) by sending our best agents to a war zone in Iraq," she said in a letter to the president.
A spokeswoman for the governor dismissed allegations that the contractor was simply seeking out a small number of border agents for its Iraqi efforts.
"The issue isn't the numbers," spokeswoman Jeanine L'Ecuyer told the Republic. "(DynCorp) basically has a contract to skim off Border Patrol agents."
