by Terri Jo Neff | Aug 14, 2022 | News
By Terri Jo Neff |
Gov. Doug Ducey signed an Executive Order on Friday for the immediate fortification of a gap in the U.S. – Mexico border in Yuma, just hours before a U.S. Consulate issued a “shelter in place” advisory for Americans living and working in Tijuana south of the border from San Diego.
“For the last two years, Arizona has made every attempt to work with Washington to address the crisis on our border,” Ducey said. “Time and time again we’ve stepped in to clean up their mess. Arizonans can’t wait any longer for the federal government to deliver on their delayed promises.”
The executive order was issued by Ducey a mere two weeks after the White House announced it would address the unsecured border in Yuma once various reviews and studies were completed. However, there was no estimate provided as to when that may be.
Ducey’s decision to authorize immediate placement of 60 double-stacked, state-owned shipping containers to fill in a 1,000-foot gap long complained about by law enforcement officials will increase national security by ensuring border security, according to Jonathan Lines, Yuma County Supervisor.
“Border communities like Yuma bear the burden of a broken border while narcotics poison our youth, human smuggling rises and mass amounts of migrants wear on our nonprofits,” said Lines, adding that Ducey was coordinating with state and local resources “to do what the federal government won’t: secure the border.”
The project overseen by state contractor Ashbritt will utilize a 25-person team of heavy equipment operators and support personnel to link together and weld shut the containers, each of which weigh more than four tons. When completed on Monday, the new barrier wall will reach about 22 feet and be topped with concertina wire.
The move to close the large gap in Yuma also came just days after President Joe Biden lifted the Remain in Mexico immigration policy which has been providing one of the few immigration controls at the border.
The U.S. Border Patrol’s Yuma Sector under the leadership of Chief Patrol Agent Chris Clum experienced more than 235,000 migrant encounters from Oct. 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022. The governor’s office called it “an ominous acceleration” for the Yuma Sector, which had the highest annual increase in encounters of all USBP sectors for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2021.
Nonprofits and shelters in Yuma County set up to assist migrants have been operating for months at overcapacity. In addition, law enforcement, first responders, and local medical facilities have been overwhelmed by the influx, which includes extremely high quantities of fentanyl coming across the border Arizona lawmakers made a $335 million investment in the Arizona Border Security Fund to construct and maintain a border fence, of which $6 million will be used put the new barrier in place in Yuma.
“Republicans in the Legislature made border security a priority in this year’s budget, and I’m thankful to Governor Ducey for wasting no time in putting those funds to good use,” said Rep. Ben Toma. “Improvements to the border wall will make our communities safer by combating human trafficking and stemming the flow of fentanyl into the state.”
Just hours after Ducey signed Executive Order 2022-04 on Friday, the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana, Mexico warned of cartel violence in several Mexican cities along the border with California, including Tijuana, Mexicali, Tecate, Rosarito, and Ensenada.
The Consulate warning called on U.S. citizens already in those areas to seek secure shelter and remain aware of their surroundings. The warning also advised Americans on the Mexico side of the border to monitor local media for updates and “notify friends and family of your safety.”
The violence, which is due to internal strife within the Sinaloa Cartel as well as pressure from other cartels, is not limited to border communities near California.
Last Thursday, several killings occurred in Ciudad Juarez, a city of 1.5 million across the border from El Paso. The violence started with a deadly fight at a Mexican prison between factions of the Sinaloa Cartel. Within hours, several fires and frequent gunfire was reported throughout Ciudad Juarez, often targeting non-cartel interests.
A statement by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Friday confirmed that “innocent civilians were attacked as a kind of retaliation” in connection with the prison fight.
by Terri Jo Neff | Aug 1, 2022 | News
By Terri Jo Neff |
The same day the Washington, D.C. mayor pleaded for National Guard troops to handle the “crisis” her city is experiencing from undocumented migrants, a fatal vehicle accident near Interstate 10 in Benson shut down one of southeast Arizona’s key roadways for several hours due to yet another human smuggling effort.
Mayor Muriel Bowser was upbraided July 28 by Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey after she complained about 4,000 or so migrants in the nation’s capital. Ducey pointed out Arizona dealt with more than 10 times that number in June alone, not counting thousands more illegal border crossers who were not apprehended due to a lack of federal resources.
Then just hours after Ducey’s comments, law enforcement agencies and emergency medical responders were on scene of a deadly two-vehicle accident one block south of the I-10 interchange with State Route 90, the key route to Sierra Vista and the border.
According to the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office, deputies attempted a traffic stop of a white Ford Expedition on Davis Road near Tombstone around 1:15 p.m. The driver of the Ford failed to yield and began travelling at speeds over 100 miles per hour, forcing the deputy to end the effort due to safety concerns.
An “attempt to locate” the vehicle was put out by the deputy to surrounding law enforcement agencies. A sighting was made shortly after 3 p.m. when the vehicle was spotted several miles to the west, heading north on SR90 toward I-10.
The Ford was still traveling at speeds estimated over 100 miles per hour, prompting law enforcement personnel to deploy tire deflation devices a few blocks south of the Interstate. Unfortunately, the driver of the Ford -later identified as a Tucson woman in her 20’s- failed once again to stop, eventually crashing into a white SUV at a controlled intersection.
The Ford driver was removed from the vehicle with serious injuries and airlifted to a Tucson hospital where she remains in critical condition. A male passenger trapped in the Ford died at the scene, while two undocumented immigrants in the Ford were injured.
The SUV driver and a passenger also suffered injuries which required their transportation to a hospital for treatment. No medical update has been provided by Arizona Department of Public Safety as of press time.
Thursday’s fatal accident is just the latest serious crash the last 18 months involving drivers engaging in human smuggling. The additional responses are overtaxing the resources of law enforcement, first responders, and medical facilities.
Which makes last week’s comment by another Washington, D.C. official that their city’s situation is “unsustainable” particularly upsetting to those living along and protecting the southwest border.
Like Ducey, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s office also hit back at Bowser last Thursday, noting that Washington, D.C. finally sees what states like Arizona and Texas “have been dealing with every single day, as our communities are overrun and overwhelmed by thousands of illegal immigrants” since President Joe Biden’s open border policies began in January 2021.
“If the mayor wants a solution to this crisis, she should call on President Biden to take immediate action to secure the border — something he has failed to do,” Abbott spokeswoman Renae Eze added.
Bowser’s request for National Guard deployment in Washington, D.C. requires Presidential approval. The U.S. Department of Defense confirmed Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III received the mayor’s request and is taking it “very seriously.”
The fatal accident in Benson and the call for National Guard troops in the capital also came the day U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced he was authorizing funding to complete a critical section of the border wall at the Morelos Dam in Yuma.
No date was provided for undertaking the construction which will close four gaps in an area along the swift moving Colorado River. However, Mayorkas’ statement implies it won’t be any time soon.
“Prior to construction, DHS will engage in standard environmental planning and conduct stakeholder outreach and consultation,” the announcement states. “DHS will move as expeditiously as possible, while still maintaining environmental stewardship.”
by AZ Free Enterprise Club | Jul 30, 2022 | Opinion
By the Arizona Free Enterprise Club |
Governor Ducey made the right decision vetoing HB2685, the Maricopa County transportation sales tax increase that was forced through the House and Senate during the final days of the legislative session.
But the reality is, it never should have gotten to his desk.
HB 2685 typified everything that is broken at the Capitol these days: a swampy political culture built around cronyism and backroom deals, legislative leadership pushing major policy through despite overwhelming opposition from their own caucus, and a complete breakdown in statesmanship, evident by the fact that most Republican lawmakers that supported the bill never actually read it or the MAG transportation plan that underpinned the legislation…
>>> CONTINUE READING >>>
by Corinne Murdock | Jul 30, 2022 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Governor Doug Ducey criticized Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s request for National Guard troops to mitigate about 4,000 migrants in her city, noting that Arizona bears a far greater burden and that her party could solve the root cause. Since January, there have been over 1.4 million encounters along the southwest border; that’s well over 3.2 million encounters since President Joe Biden took office.
Ducey noted that Arizona endured just shy of 43,600 border encounters in June — not including the far-greater estimates of “gotaways,” or those illegal crossers spotted but not apprehended.
The governor noted that the Biden administration hasn’t declared a national emergency over the border crisis. Ducey issued a state of emergency last April. He also recounted how Arizona used its own state resources to deploy its own National Guard troops to handle the mass border invasion.
Ducey has consistently accused Democratic leadership of failing to take action. He advised Bowser that her plea for troops was only a temporary solution to a problem that her party could solve.
“Mayor Bowser is right. This is a humanitarian crisis. Yet her allies in the White House and Congress refuse to act,” stated Ducey. “If the Mayor really wants to address the issue, she can join us in calling for President Biden to take action at the root of the problem, and secure our southern border.”
AZ Free News reported earlier this month that the Border Patrol (BP) Yuma Sector reported over 235,000 encounters — a 300 percent increase from this same time last year. Nationwide, that number grew to over 1.7 million encounters this fiscal year, October to June.
In May, the Arizona House Republican caucus submitted a legislative proclamation denouncing the current state of the border. The proclamation exhorted President Joe Biden’s administration to act.
Both of Arizona’s Democratic Senators, Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema, took action to mitigate the illegal crossings. The pair announced in March that they secured budget provisions to increase border security, though none were allocated to finishing the border wall.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Jul 25, 2022 | Education, News
By Corinne Murdock |
Last Tuesday, a federal judge dismissed Governor Doug Ducey’s lawsuit against the Biden administration’s attempt to recoup COVID-19 relief funds given to mask mandate-free K-12 schools. Arizona District Court Judge Steve Logan dismissed for failure to state a claim.
Last August, Ducey applied the American Rescue Plan Act’s (ARPA) Arizona cut of the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (SLFRF) to two programs: a $10 million one that would cover $7,000 of tuition or other educational costs at schools without mask mandates, and a $163 million one that made only mask mandate-free schools eligible for funds.
In the Ducey v. Yellen, et al. ruling handed down last week, Logan, an Obama appointee, rejected Ducey’s claim that his application of SLFRF funds were a valid use of addressing the COVID-19 pandemic’s negative economic impacts. Logan insisted that Ducey’s reading of the statute was “too narrow” and thereby neglected its greater context. The judge opined that Ducey’s encouragement of noncompliance with public health guidance worsened, not mitigated, COVID-19’s negative economic impacts.
“In line with the explicit purpose of the SLFRF […] the statute at least carries the possibility that SLFRF funding may not be used for programs with conditions that undermine public health guidance, as such programs would exacerbate rather than mitigate the pandemic’s fiscal effects,” wrote Logan. “This proposition is axiomatic: a program that addresses fiscal effects of the pandemic but contains a condition that would promulgate the spread of the virus prolongs the pandemic and its resulting fiscal effects — thereby failing to provide mitigation of either.”
Logan did agree with Ducey’s argument that the state has authority to decide how to use its SLFRF funds. However, Logan determined that Ducey’s application ran afoul of ARPA’s restrictions. Logan rejected Ducey’s argument that the USDF was too ambiguous when describing permissible uses of SLFRF funds. Rather, the federal judge agreed that the U.S. Department of Treasury’s (USDT) enumeration of permissible usage was sufficient.
In addition to USDT Secretary Janet Yellen, the named defendants in the case were USDT Acting Inspector General Richard Delmar and the USDT itself.
Ducey first filed the lawsuit in January.
In response to an October letter from the USDT informing the governor that Arizona’s usage of SLFRF funds weren’t permissible, Ducey accused the Biden administration of government overreach.
“Here in Arizona, we trust families to make decisions that are best for our children. It’s clear that President Bident doesn’t feel the same,” wrote Ducey. “He’s focused on taking power away from American families by issuing restrictive and dictatorial mandates for his own political gain.”
USDT began investigating Ducey’s two programs following a mid-August request from Congressman Greg Stanton (D-AZ-09), issued hours after Ducey first announced the two programs at the heart of this case.
The governor filed an appeal to Logan’s ruling last Friday.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
