Governor Jan Brewer criticized for statement on deadly Arizona border shooting

PHOENIX - Arizona Governor Jan Brewer is under fire from critics for her statement regarding the shooting death of Border Patrol Agent Nicholas Ivie.

Critics complain she brought politics into play the same day the shooting happened.

Brewer's statement reads:

“Arizona has lost another Border Patrol agent.

“In the dark hours before daybreak, one agent was killed and another injured while on-duty along Arizona’s southern border. It is believed they were responding to an alerted ground sensor in a remote area near Bisbee, a short distance north of the border. In a tragic coincidence, these agents were assigned to Brian Terry Station – newly-dedicated and named for a U.S. Border Patrol agent murdered under similar circumstances in Arizona less than two years ago.

More recently, in May 2011, we lost two more agents – Eduardo Rojas, Jr. and Hector Clark – when they were killed in a vehicle accident while pursuing suspected drug smugglers near Gila Bend.

What happens next has become all-too-familiar in Arizona. Flags will be lowered in honor of the slain agent. Elected officials will vow to find those responsible. Arizonans and Americans will grieve, and they should. But this ought not only be a day of tears. There should be anger, too. Righteous anger – at the kind of evil that causes sorrow this deep, and at the federal failure and political stalemate that has left our border unsecured and our Border Patrol in harm’s way. Four fallen agents in less than two years is the result.

It has been 558 days since the Obama administration declared the security of the U.S.-Mexico border ‘better now than it has ever been.’ I’ll remember that statement today.”

On KTAR Tuesday, Senator John McCain apologized for the issue being politicized by Brewer, but accused former Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano of doing the same thing.

"I can tell you that our former governor politicizes it by blaming Republicans all the time for a variety of things," McCain said.

Governor Brewer was in Canada on an economic trip when the statement was drafted. 

On Wednesday, Brewer heads to New Mexico for the 30th annual Border Conference where border security will be a main topic.