Q&A with Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey on border security
Mar 12, 2021, 11:53 AM
PHOENIX – Gov. Doug Ducey said Friday he plans a trip to the Arizona-Mexico border next week to meet with federal officials on the release of migrants into the state.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been releasing people from custody into Arizona under immigration policy established by President Joe Biden, a change from the previous administration’s strategy.
“I’m going to be going the border next week and meet with Homeland Security top officials,” Ducey told KTAR 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show.
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“We need some attention on that and we’re looking at options, including the National Guard.”
The governor also addressed other border-related topics during Friday’s interview:
How can his office intervene?
“There are things the state can do. In 2015, we put together the border strike force and the border strike force is going to be back down there and they’re going to be focusing on, of course, drug cartels, human trafficking, child sex trafficking. A lot of people are being put in a terrible position because there’s an incentive to come over the border.”
Has the state communicated with the White House about the border policy?
“We have had input. They’ve listened on vaccines; they’re not listening on the border. We’ve sent a letter to the secretary of Homeland Security.
“I think we’ve had a pretty solid policy. The border has never been solved, but boy, it had been reduced so much in terms of apprehensions and child crossings.”
On getting migrants tested for COVID
“If you come into this the country from another country, you have to have a test that shows you’re negative. Yet, you have people that can cross the border [and] they’re not taking a test.
“This is why it’s bad federal policy and it needs to be fixed.”
Can the situation change?
“The answer, of course, has got to be ‘yes.’ This is why you press your case, this is why you go to the border, this is why you talk to be Cabinet secretaries. And that’s what we’re going to do.”
