MARCH 30, 2016

Babeu: Clinton wrong to say feds have done a good job securing Arizona-Mexico border


CASA GRANDE, Ariz. – Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu challenged Democratic Presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton’s claim on a Phoenix radio station that “We’ve done a really good job securing the border.”

Speaking on 92.3 KTAR, Clinton said, “I think we’ve done a really good job securing the border and I think that those who say we haven’t are not paying attention to everything that was done for the last 15 years under both President Bush and President Obama.”

Babeu said if Clinton really wants to learn about the border conditions, he would take her on a tour to show the smuggling routes used day and night to ferry people and drugs through Arizona’s desert.

“If Secretary Clinton really wants to grasp the extent of the human and drug smuggling going through Arizona, I will take her on a tour of the most popular smuggling routes used,” Babeu said. “She would come to understand that our border is far from secured.”

Babeu noted his deputies routinely come across drug smugglers in Pinal County, seizing marijuana, cocaine, meth, heroin and other drugs in large and small quantities.

“My deputies led the largest drug bust in Arizona history, arresting 76 Sinaloa Cartel members, seizing $3 billion work of drugs and money along with 108 weapons,” Babeu said. “Last week, my deputies had six significant drug busts arresting 25 smugglers and cartel scouts. Hillary Clinton doesn’t have a clue about what’s really happening along the southwest border. Tens of thousands of illegal immigrants are caught each year by the Border Patrol in Southern Arizona. If illegal immigrants and cartels can roam freely, certainly ISIS and terrorists with military training can just as easily make their way into America.”