Arizona AG Mayes says Trump administration is ‘abandoning’ fight against drug trafficking

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes criticized the Trump administration, saying it has abandoned the drug trafficking fight to focus on immigration.

BY JEFF VINTON

Dec 8, 2025, 1:27 PM Updated: 7:07 pm

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PHOENIX — Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is criticizing the Trump administration, which she says is ignoring the issue of drug trafficking at the southern border to instead focus on immigration enforcement around the country.

“My state is the fentanyl funnel for the rest of the nation: more than half of all the fentanyl seized in this country every year is confiscated in Arizona,” Mayes wrote in a column published Sunday by MS NOW.

Mayes added that since taking office in 2023, law enforcement around Arizona has confiscated more than 27 million pills. Her office has also prosecuted several drug dealers, which has led to more than 20 years in prison sentences being handed out.

That includes one man who was sentenced to five years in prison in August after pleading guilty to trafficking drugs in the Valley.

However, it is not just fentanyl that has Mayes concerned. She is also worried about the effect scaling back drug trafficking enforcement could have on the use of carfentanil, a drug 100 times stronger than fentanyl, along with cocaine and methamphetamine, which were used by an estimated 6.7 million people nationwide in 2024, according to statistics from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

“Now is not the time to let up on drug-fighting efforts,” Mayes said.

AG calls for federal agents to fight drug trafficking in Arizona

Arizona’s top prosecutor said the major focus on immigration enforcement by the Trump administration has led to federal drug prosecutions dropping by 10% from 2024 and the number of people who have been charged with money laundering going down by almost 25%.

“The federal government is effectively abandoning its fight against drug and human trafficking as it prioritizes immigration enforcement,” Mayes wrote.

Mayes also raised concerns about Customs and Border Protection (CBP) checkpoints reportedly going unattended along State Route 82, a southern Arizona road that she said is commonly used for drug trafficking. This is an issue for the attorney general, who said most drugs enter the U.S. inside cars driven by U.S. citizens through border checkpoints.

Mayes added that this could be due to federal law enforcement officers being reassigned from their duties at the southern border to work on immigration enforcement in cities such as Chicago and Los Angeles.

“Instead of keeping up the fight against illegal drugs here at home and working with states like Arizona to ensure that communities across the country are safe, Trump has redirected the federal law enforcement apparatus against American cities,” the attorney general wrote.

In response, Mayes, who has previously criticized President Donald Trump for pulling Drug Enforcement Agency agents from Arizona, is calling for more federal agents to be assigned to the state.

“We need the agents from Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI assigned to protect our communities to be able to focus on that work — and not to be pulled from their missions to chase migrants working as maids and landscapers,” Mayes wrote. “And we can’t have CBP abandoning Route 82.”

Mayes said that her office will continue to fight to stop fentanyl and other deadly drugs from entering Arizona, but success will require help from the Trump administration.

“The president should do what he promised during his campaign to help states like Arizona protect citizens: by going after the really bad guys, criminal gang members, drug dealers and cartel members — not innocent Americans,” she wrote. “It’s time to focus precious law enforcement resources on the actual criminals.”