Arizona’s top federal prosecutor says ‘border is closed’ as battle against cartels shifts

PHOENIX – Arizona’s top federal prosecutor said Thursday that while “the border is closed,” the battle to disrupt Mexican cartels continues on other fronts.

“We have absolute operational control of that border. There’s a variety of statistics that I could throw out at you. But they all tell the same story, and that’s the border is closed,” District of Arizona U.S. Attorney Timothy Courchaine told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show.

Courchaine explained that border control is the first step of a large operation to prevent cartels from terrorizing Mexico and trafficking drugs and undocumented people into Arizona.

“Arizona serves a gatekeeping role into the country. … Most of the fentanyl that comes into the United States traditionally has come in through Arizona. A lot of the human trafficking has come in through Arizona,” he said.

Now that the border is closed, how are cartels being targeted?

Courchaine, who has been Arizona’s U.S. attorney for just over a year, said the anti-cartel mission has changed now that the border is secured.

Enforcement efforts are now targeted at cartel structure along the border.

“Generally, they’re called plazas, but that’s where a lot of the leadership resides in these cartels that actually operationally matter, that gets the stuff across the border, the bad stuff across the border and the things they need back south. Without that leadership, the cartels can’t function, and that’s why that is shifting into our next active priority,” Courchaine said.

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