AG Garland briefed at border in southern Arizona, visits family of fallen DEA agent

PHOENIX – U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland stopped for a briefing at the border while in southern Arizona on Thursday before heading to Mexico City to meet with high-level U.S. and Mexican officials.

Garland also spent time privately with the family of fallen Drug Enforcement Administration Group Supervisor Michael G. Garbo, the Department of Justice said. Garbo, whose funeral was Friday morning, was killed in the line of duty at a Tucson train station Monday.

Garland also visited the hospitalized DEA agent and Tucson police officer who were injured during the shooting and talked to staff at the Tucson DEA office.

Then at the border in Nogales, Garland “was briefed on efforts ranging from preventing human trafficking to the interdiction of illegal firearms and narcotics,” according to a Justice Department spokesman.

The Biden administration has been under fire from Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and other Republicans for failing to act on border security issues.

Garland also held a meeting with federal law enforcement leaders at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tucson before flying to Mexico City to take part in high-level security talks along with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.

High-level delegations from Mexico and the United States were planning to work Friday on building a new security framework they hope will govern how the two countries cooperate on a broad range of security issues.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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