Candidate Marco Lopez calls Gov. Ducey’s plan to bus migrants to DC ‘failed leadership’

PHOENIX – Democratic Arizona gubernatorial candidate Marco Lopez dismissed Gov. Doug Ducey’s plan to bus migrants to Washington, D.C., as “a big distraction.”

“I think it’s an example of failed leadership and another tactic, just like [Texas] Gov. [Greg] Abbott, looking to draw attention and not really focused on solving the real broader issue of immigration,” the former Nogales mayor and federal border security official told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Gaydos and Chad Show on Thursday.

“That’s what we really need leadership on. And so this is a big distraction.”

Ducey revealed this week that the state is giving migrants seeking asylum in Arizona the option of being transported to the nation’s capital, mirroring a Texas policy.

Lopez, who served as chief of staff for Customs and Border Protection during the Obama administration, said the policy is taking resources and attention away from more important issues at the border.

“I hope that after they’re done with their stunts and their gimmicks, they continue to pressure the federal government to get adjudicators, get immigration judges in place so that they can process the asylum and refugee requests that are going to be hitting and impacting our border communities,” he said.

Lopez, who has been polling a distant second to Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs in the Democratic gubernatorial primary race, said there’s no quick fix to the border situation.

“I think that we have to be realistic; this did not happen overnight,” he said.

Lopez said state and local leaders need to be partnering with the federal government instead of “pointing fingers.”

“There’s a lot of challenges that need to be tackled, but it will be long term,” he said. “It got broken over years and it’s not going to be fixed overnight. And that’s why we need to make sure that we have local leaders at this state, in Arizona, that are pushing and willing to work with the federal government.

“Pointing fingers is not a strategy. … That’s why these stunts in Texas and here in Arizona are not only frustrating, but they don’t actually get us to a place that you have leaders solving problems.”

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