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Gov. Janet Napolitano defended her call to deploy Arizona National Guard troops to the Mexican border Wednesday, saying the time is right for a greater state role fighting crime caused by illegal immigration.

"Three years ago I believed the president. I believed we were going to have immigration reform and we were going to have more Border Patrol agents," she said in an interview with the Arizona Daily Star editorial board.

"It seems to me now that there is an appropriate role for them to play," the governor said, because "the federal government is not succeeding (in controlling the border) and does not have a plan."

Napolitano unveiled a multipronged $100 million border security plan in her State of the State Address on Monday. She called for the federal government to pick up the tab for stationing the guard on the border and for state-imposed sanctions against businesses that hire people here illegally.

Although her proposal was initially welcomed by many Republican lawmakers, some accused her Tuesday of belatedly adopting a get-tough approach in anticipation of her upcoming re-election campaign.

"She reads polls better than any politician and she has finally seen the light," Rep. Russell Pearce of Mesa said in a statement. "I hope everyone sees through this facade."

Republicans released comments made by Napolitano and her staff which they say demonstrate how her views have changed. In one comment made by the governor two years ago, she said, "I don't think it's a good idea" to place the Guard on the border.

Napolitano also touched on border issues earlier in the day at the Tucson Convention Center, in an abbreviated version of her State of the State Address at a luncheon sponsored by the Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Greater Tucson Leadership.

"What we are looking at is an economic migration, primarily," she told the gathering of about 1,000. "The basic demand that has increased the numbers so dramatically is economic in nature. It's supply and it's demand."

The border needs to be safe, she said, but Arizonans should not forget that "literally billions of dollars in commerce and tourism and trade and legal immigration that comes through our ports of entry."

Napolitano, who has embraced a guest-worker plan like the one introduced by Sen. John McCain and Rep. Jim Kolbe, both Republicans, called on Congress to pass immigration laws that can be enforced. "I hope this year, finally, the Congress will get real about immigration reform," she said, calling it her "one request from Washington, D.C."

Chamber officials were delighted by the large crowd that wanted to hear the governor. "It's the biggest crowd we've ever had," said Jack Camper, chamber president. "It's incredible."

He attributed the turnout to the widespread belief that "the governor is doing a good" job and is "well-liked by the business community."