Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, Congressional District Three Representative and Presumptive Democratic Senate Nominee Ruben Gallego, and Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway have a message for Congress.
Fund and Secure the Border NOW!
Since the collapse, at the instigation of Donald Trump and his MAGA allies in Congress, of a Senate Bipartisan Bill to increase border security, combat the fentanyl drug trafficking, and streamline procedures like the times to process asylum requests, Democrats and like-minded Republicans including President Biden have called on Republicans to put country over party and pass the bipartisan border security deal.
A deal, one should remind readers, that favored conservative immigration priorities over progressive ones. DACA protections and pathway to citizenship provisions were not included in the bipartisan deal in order to get border security provisions, included in both Obama and Biden-led Comprehensive Immigration Reform packages, passed.
To highlight the need to secure the border, Ms. Mayes and Mr. Gallego joined Hathaway at the Santa Cruz Sheriffs Department and held a press conference, calling on Congress to finally act.
Sheriff Hathaway spoke first by reminding those assembled that most voters view the border and immigration as top issues heading into the 2024 election.
He then highlighted the commercial, agricultural, and economic benefits of the Nogales border with Mexico, saying “It’s one of the biggest ports of entry with Mexico of any of the four border counties…We value our relationship with Mexico…We have millions of dollars coming back and forth every day…It’s a symbiotic relationship…One of those industries is the produce industry…We provide 60 percent of the fresh produce for the United States during the winter…We depend on Mexico and Central America. It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to get lettuce, tomatoes, or mangoes in the Midwest in a Kroger. In the South in Wind Dixie or in the Western U.S. in Safeway…”
He then pivoted to the bipartisan border security bill from the Senate, saying “We had a solution. It was on the horizon. We had a border bill in front of Congress…Whenever anybody asks me, ‘Sheriff what’s the number one thing that we need to solve this border crisis’ I tell them we need immigration judges right here on the border…so we’re not kicking the can down the road and deferring these hearings for years…we need those judges (to decide on work and tourist visas and asylum claims.) If the answer is yes, it’s yes. If it’s no, it’s no…When I read that border bill…lo and behold, it (the increase in judges) was in there…I’m sad to say that for political reasons, that bill never went forward. It had the solutions that all political groups have been asking for but it was sidetracked and didn’t go forward…”
Representative Gallego spoke next. Saying that the border enforcement community, since the end of Title 42, lacked the resources to deal with prolonged crossing surges into Arizona and needed increased funding for personnel, resources, and community safety, the Senate candidate called the bipartisan Senate border deal “what America needed and it’s what our border communities needed.”
Gallego then described the provisions that were contained in the Border Patrol and law enforcement-supported bipartisan legislation that benefited border communities including:
- Increased funding for border communities like Nogales.
- More tools to combat the Fentanyl drug crisis.
- Shortening the length of the asylum claims process.
- More funding for border protection.
The Democratic House Representative blasted Trumpist-MAGA Republicans for obstructing the legislation, stating that “extremists in Congress must put politics aside and pass the funding and border security bill that’s right now sitting idly in Congress. Every minute we wait means more fentanyl deaths, more strain on our first responders…and a looming possibility of street releases, something that no small community wants or Arizona wants in general.”
Gallego then asserted that tools to detect fentanyl remain unused in Nogales warehouses because “right-wing members of Congress haven’t allocated the funding needed to install them. Think about it. They are right here. We just need that approval to install them…What will my (Republican) colleagues do? Will they actually put Arizona first or will they continue to play politics?”
He then said that he would continue to call for Speaker Mike Johnson to put legislation on the floor that funds Arizona’s border needs and consider his legislation to combat the fentanyl drug trafficking, saying “It’s past time extremists who control the narrative around the border; they’ve shown that they would rather score political points than to have a solution. We must silence their noise, get to work, and deliver lasting results for Arizona border communities and our law enforcement.”
Attorney General Mayes addressed the press event next. She focused most of her comments on the fentanyl drug trafficking crisis, reminding those gathered that fentanyl-related fatalities are “the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 45.”
Commenting first on the fentanyl crisis, she started off by saying, “Arizona has been flooded, flooded with cheap and deadly fentanyl in recent years with over half of the fentanyl seized in the United States in 2022 and 2023 being seized right here in Arizona. The Cartels are using our ports of entry and border as their personal postal service to send fentanyl to the rest of the nation. This is happening while high-tech scanning equipment that could help stop the flow of fentanyl is sitting unused in government warehouses…Picture that. High-tech scanners that can X-ray vehicles and discover fentanyl more efficiently, sitting unused, just taking up space. It is insane and it is shameful because the extremists in Congress have decided that doing nothing is better for them politically than working on solutions that would save lives.”
That is actually a question Democrats can ask Republicans and MAGA-Trumpists on the campaign trail.
“How many people died today from a Fentanyl overdose because you would not fund the scanners that could detect the drug?”
The Attorney General then recounted a meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris last year where she described Arizona’s border enforcement needs including resources to combat fentanyl trafficking and the Vice President’s agreement on the issue. She also noted that the Biden/Harris budget included funding for resources to meet Arizona’s border enforcement needs to combat fentanyl.
Ms. Mayes repeated her outrage at Congress not funding the installation of the drug-detecting scanners, calling it “Beyond ridiculous. Arizona families every day are losing loved ones to this crisis of fentanyl. We have Arizonans dying every day for no reason at all when we have scanners that can prevent this fentanyl from entering the country sitting right here in warehouses.”
She went on to say, “The nonintrusive technology is a game changer for stopping fentanyl from flowing across the border, and beyond these scanners, we should be looking at other technologies like AI as solutions to stopping the flow of this drug. Congress needs to work together and fast. It’s unconscionable for the Republican majority in Congress (the House) to sink the bipartisan border agreement that Congressman Gallego mentioned when conservatives helped to negotiate. All for perceived political gains in an election year.”
The Attorney General went after the Cartels for their social media campaign, targeting teenagers to buy their product, resulting in “Arizonans seeing fentanyl overdoses in children as young as 14 years old.” She pledged to “aggressively” fight the drug cartels “but we need our elected officials, our elected representatives, to step up, and do their part to protect our communities.”
After the press event, both Attorney General Mayes and Representative Gallego issued a joint press release.
Ms. Mayes commented:
“Arizona has been flooded with cheap and deadly fentanyl – with over half of the fentanyl seized in the United States in recent years being seized in Arizona. Sadly, extremists in Congress continue to obstruct legislation that would better fund border security and keep fentanyl out of our communities. I am grateful for Representative Gallego and Sheriff Hathaway’s leadership on this issue. If we work together, we can combat this crisis, secure our border, and protect the people of Arizona.”
“Because of the actions of the Mexican drug cartels, Arizona now serves as the fentanyl funnel for the rest of the nation. This devastating public health crisis has wrecked communities, harmed families, and pushed drug overdose deaths to astronomical heights. It is ridiculous that technology that would help prevent the flow of this drug into our country sits unused because of Congressional inaction.”
Mr. Gallego stated:
“Border communities across Arizona need the necessary resources to keep Arizonans safe, keep our economy growing, and ensure the humanitarian rights of migrants are respected. Tragically, extremists in Congress blocked the best bipartisan border security bill our nation has seen in years. That’s not right, and it’s why we gathered in Nogales to remind Arizonans that leaders like Attorney General Mayes, Sheriff Hathaway, and me are fighting to keep Arizona’s border secure.”
The Attorney General also posted on social media:
Representative Gallego posted:
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Good on the Dems calling the MAGAts out for their BS, but…
Fentanyl and drugs are a medical problem. not a border policy issue.
Drug use pre-dates all modern religions, but we’ve found ways of making what were once natural drugs stronger and created new, more deadly drugs because it makes money for Wall Street.
Suffering people will do whatever they need to get relief, laws be damned, and closing one border just means the cartels, ever the clever capitalists, will use another.
A comprehensive plan should include getting people in pain or dealing with addiction help, and destigmatizing addiction, or it’s not actually comprehensive.
Treatment is also cheaper, helps families, and gets people back to their lives and being part of society.
The Sackler family should probably pony up ALL of their billions to help pay for treatment, since their lies about Oxycontin created this mess.
If you treat the root cause, then you shrink the customer base, and eventually the cartels will need to find real jobs.
It won’t happen overnight, and it will require paying attention, meaning adjusting as needed, and not passing one bill and walking away.
That should be part of any “comprehensive” plan or it’s not comprehensive.