At a press conference yesterday at the Arizona State Capitol, border sheriffs exposed the crisis about to unfold at the southern border when Joe Biden ends Title 42 and Republican Party of Arizona Chairwoman Dr. Kelli Ward called out Katie Hobbs for flip-flopping on this critical border security issue.
Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels, Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb and Yuma County Sheriff Leon Wilmot called on Joe Biden to halt his administration's plan to lift Title 42 that experts agree will trigger a massive surge of illegal immigration.
“We have seen tragedy after tragedy, up to murder, in my county due to the reckless disregard and the willful neglect of this administration to engage with our state, with our local law enforcement, with our mayors and with our sheriffs,” Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels said at the press conference. “Between the state and local communities, we’re stepping up to do our best. […] President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas have made the choice not to be involved. As a result, it’s placed every community in danger.”
Republican Party of Arizona (RPAZ) Chairwoman Dr. Kelli Ward took Democrat candidate for governor Katie Hobbs to task for Hobbs’ recent flip-flop on Title 42.
“Today we gathered to shine our light on the humanitarian and public safety crisis that Arizona and America are staring down right now,” Chairwoman Ward said. “This is fundamentally a question of leadership. The next governor must be strong and fearless on border security. Someone who actually believes that the border must be secured completely and totally, not someone like flip-flopper Katie Hobbs.”
Today @GOP exposed what Arizona faces when Biden ends #Title42: Total chaos
— Ben Petersen (@bennpetersen) April 29, 2022
Amid all this, AZ's border sheriffs are heroes doing everything in their power to keep you safe
Who we elect matters. It doesn't have to be like this. Biden caused this. It can be remedied #AZGOV pic.twitter.com/QYCiy636LV
“This is not about immigration — this is about human trafficking and drug trafficking into America,” said Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb. “It should not matter whether you are a Republican, a Democrat or an independent. If you care about human beings and how people are treated, you should absolutely care about border security. The cartels are abusing people on a daily basis.” Sheriff Lamb also described the impact of fentanyl trafficking enabled by open borders. “Do you realize that fentanyl is the number one killer of Americans between the age of 18 to 45? It is poisoning our communities,” said Lamb. “Women, children, teenagers, babies, grandparents. These are the victims — civilians. […] We cannot accept this as Americans.”
“It’s a sad situation that we see the administration in Washington D.C. wants to end Title 42,” said Yuma County Sheriff Leon Wilmot yesterday. “I have a total of 800 Border Patrol agents that work in my county. On any given day, I might see four to six of those Border Patrol agents on the border because the administration has tasked our border law enforcement with being the immigration and holding facility.” Sheriff Wilmot added, “For them to end Title 42 is a mistake. It’s going to place not only Arizonans but our Customs and Border Protection personnel in further danger.”
RPAZ Chairwoman Ward also questioned where Katie Hobbs has been since her flip-flop on Sunday. “Where is Katie? Since she flip-flopped, she’s been hiding. Her campaign tried to clean up her mess in a written statement,” said Chairwoman Ward. “Now after seeing all of this, how could anyone trust her to lead? What a stark contrast to the Republicans running for governor who have already released their border policies and their border plans. Katie would continue to follow in the footsteps of Biden and simply ignore the problem.”
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