Santa Cruz County sheriff defends decision about border wall construction protesters

Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway is defending his decision to stop responding to calls about protesters against border wall construction, saying federal authorities are better equipped to handle the situation.

Hathaway issued a statement Monday after the Arizona Sheriffs’ Association released a letter Friday accusing the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office of refusing repeated requests for help regarding violence, threats and property damage.

Hathaway said U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers have made multiple “disingenuous” calls asking his office to remove what he called “peaceful protesters.”

“Once we realized that the large contingent of federal officers and contractors in Lochiel were not in danger and that the federal government wanted to avoid their responsibilities regarding this clearly federal issue, we adopted the posture that the thousands of federal officers armed with machine guns, helicopters, drones and chemical weapons should not pawn off their own border security job on the very small Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office by pretending that they are afraid of gentle unarmed folk that are a throwback to the flower children of the Vietnam anti-war movement,” the border sheriff said.

Santa Cruz County sheriff says federal officers are the ones getting violent

Hathaway also said the federal officers and contractors are not the ones who need protection.

“The only violent physical encounters in the area involved large numbers of mask-clad federal officers gassing and dragging protesters away,” he said. “Protesters also called my office asking for help to protect themselves from the large contingent of federal officers attacking them.”

Hathaway decided the best course of action was to let federal authorities handle it.

“I was not about to start a war with CBP by having my armed officers confront the armed federal officers in response to calls from protesters facing an onslaught from an overwhelming army of masked federal officers,” he said. “This was clearly a federal issue requiring federal decisions regarding appropriate action.”

Santa Cruz County is a small county along the border between Pima and Cochise counties. Nogales is its biggest city. Hathaway said his office has 45 sworn officers to cover 1,238 square miles.

Protesters had been trying to stop border wall construction by occupying the last “grandmother” cottonwood tree in Lochiel, east of Nogales. On Monday, Border Patrol agents reportedly arrested at least 20 people and used a cherry picker to remove a protester from the tree, which is over 150 years old, before cutting it down.

Arizona Sheriffs’ Association denies that it is political

Hathaway also accused the Arizona Sheriffs’ Association of political bias, noting that he and another Democratic sheriff, Pima County’s Chris Nanos, are no longer members. He said he stopped paying dues and let his membership lapse after years of trying to convince the group’s leadership to be more politically neutral.

“The Arizona Sheriffs’ Association is a private 501(c)(4) organization with no governmental authority. During my entire tenure as sheriff, it has been presided over by activist Republicans that continually put out papers directly from the ASA condemning Democratic politicians and policies, purporting to speak on behalf of all sheriffs including Democratic sheriffs,” Hathaway said.

Hathaway did not respond to KTAR News’ request for an interview.

Navajo County Sheriff David Clouse, the current ASA president, told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show that he disagrees with Hathaway’s assertion that federal authorities should handle the situation themselves.

“These are state laws that are being violated,” Clouse said. “We do not want to see federal agents or federal government coming in to do the locals’ job.”

He also denied that the ASA’s stance is motivated by politics.

“I would strongly disagree,” Clouse said. “It’s got a body of both Democrats and Republicans, and we have an independent within it. We don’t make endorsements. We don’t make what we would call political statements.”

Related

Vandals target border wall contractor Fisher Industries’ Tempe officeLochiel protest moves to tree in Mexico after border agents clear U.S. cottonwoodsICE contractor signs deal to reopen Arizona prison as immigration detention center3 arrested after allegedly trespassing at border wall construction site in ArizonaRep. Yassamin Ansari says ICE was allowed to ignore detainee limits for a yearUNESCO is sending an international mission to assess border wall damage in Arizona