Has Arizona's Governor gone looney tunes?

Today, AZ Gov. Jan Brewer said:

"I believe today, under the circumstances that we're facing, that the majority of the illegal trespassers that are coming into the state of Arizona are under the direction and control of organized drug cartels and they are bringing drugs in."

In a follow up, her office tried to clarify her position with a press release. In it, she says:

"The majority of human smuggling in our state is under the direction
of the drug cartels, which are by definition smuggling drugs."

Hmm.

This is quite sketchy logic. According to Brewer, because drug cartels control most of the human border-crossing traffic, and because by definition drug cartels deal with drugs, therefore the individuals who are trying to come into the US are mostly drug smugglers. She even points to this LA Times article from March 23, 2009, that shows that drug cartels have taken control of much of the human border-crossing traffic.

But wait, the article she uses, does NOT back her claim up that these cartels are using most of their humans trying to cross into the US, to smuggle drugs!

In that article, it directly states:

"Sometimes they loaded up their human cargo with backpacks full of marijuana."


"The cartels often further exploit the illegal immigrants by forcing them into economic bondage or prostitution, U.S. officials say. In recent years, illegal immigrants have been forced to pay even more exorbitant fees for being smuggled into the U.S. by the cartel's well-coordinated networks of transportation, communications, logistics and financial operatives, according to officials."


"In Arizona, the cartels grossed an estimated $2 billion last year on smuggling humans."

In fact, the article is specifically about how the drug cartels are using humans as a means of gaining revenue not primarily from acting as drug mules, but from being treated as property and slaves, sold and stolen from each other drug cartel, raped, and forced to pay ever higher fees to cross into the US.

Ironic then, for Brewer to quote an article that actually refutes her allegation that a majority of humans crossing into the US from Mexico, are smuggling drugs.

Do you need further proof that Brewer's gone looney tunes?