Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer added another layer of analysis to President Obama’s seriously not political announcement on Friday that he intends to loosen deportation standards and allow young “non-criminal” illegal aliens to stay in this country legally by issuing work permits. The Supreme Court’s decision on S.B. 1070, Arizona’s attempt to actually enforce border security and deter illegal immigration in the face of federal laxity, is due this week or the next, and a lot of analysts have speculated that Arizona has a good shot at winning the case. Team Obama needed to get out in front of the bad PR that could come if SCOTUS does indeed rule against the Obama’s Justice Department, as well as render the law less effective (h/t Katie Pavlich):

Gov. Jan Brewer blasted President Barack Obama Friday for taking what she called a “pre-emptive strike” against the state’s tough illegal immigration enforcement law. …

“It is no coincidence that this sweeping policy change was announced less than five months before a presidential election,” she said during a late morning press conference.

“Most importantly this unilateral act is a pre-emptive strike against the United States Supreme Court and its decision on Senate Bill 1070, which may come as early as this Monday.” …

Should the justices uphold the law as it was originally passed, Brewer says the president’s decision could undercut the bill’s effectiveness.

“The crux of Senate Bill 1070, of course, is documentation,” Brewer said. “And what he has done by his announcement today is that he’s going to give documentation to nearly a million people that have arrived in our country illegally and not by the rule of law.”

As Brewer argues, the president’s executive power-move can definitely be at least partially chalked up to an assault on Arizona’s ability to combat the effects of the many illegal immigrants living in their state. But, don’t forget, it’s not political.

The fact that Mexican President Felipe Calderon is applauding Obama’s move should indeed be cause for raised eyebrows.

After the two leaders met one-on-one before the start of the G-20 summit in Los Cabos, President Felipe Calderon thanked Obama for what he called an “unprecedented” move in halting the deportations.

“We believe this is very just,” Calderon said, according to an interpreter, adding: “Thank you for the valor and courage that you had in implementing this action. I’m sure many, many families in the United States thank you as well.”