OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Republican Arizona candidate for governor, Kari Lake, is not frightened of taking on the media, like the man who endorsed her, former President Donald Trump.
“I offered my border policy to the Arizona Republic. Your management refused to take it unless I took out the word invasion, which tells me that you guys are on the side of the cartels,” the candidate said to the reporter.
“Then why did you agree to do an interview?” the reporter said.
“Because you’ve been pestering me nonstop,” the candidate said.
“That’s true,” the reporter said.
“The only discussion that the Arizona Republic is interested in is a far-left discussion. And Stacy, you’ve been here 10 months you don’t understand Arizona. I’m sorry to say that. I’m out with people every day. I’m out with hundreds of people every day, 1000s of people some days. They’re fed up but what’s happening at our border. I appreciate your time. We gave you one more question, you asked the question. We’ve given you probably what, five or 10 minutes longer? I appreciate your time, but I’m really prepared for another hit piece from the Republic. The good news is our polling is showing that every day you guys write a hit piece on me or every week, and it’s not sticking because the good people of Arizona—who I have a relationship with and I’ve had a relationship with for 27 years—are not buying the garbage that you guys are peddling,” the candidate said.
“I don’t understand why you are attacking my you know, having lived here a short period of time. This is a state of newcomers,” the reporter said.
“I’m just saying Stacy you don’t understand what the people of Arizona want. You don’t understand the people because you haven’t had a relationship like I have for 27 years. And you’re here for 10 months acting like you know what the people of Arizona want when it comes to the border. The people of Arizona want to secure state. The people of Arizona want to make sure their kids don’t get their hands on drugs. The people of Arizona want to make sure that the cartels no longer have operational control of our border. And we will when I am governor, take back control of our border. We will finish President Trump’s wall, we will send our Arizona National Guard down to the border, and we will arm them. We’re not going to let people over and when we find people we’re going to send them back,” the candidate said.
To the candidate’s point, Arizona Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich is sounding the alarm on the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.
During an interview on Fox News, Brnovich slammed Joe Biden’s “failed” immigration policies.
“Every time you think … we’ve hit rock bottom, something else happens,” he said. “There’s a record amount of people flooding into this country this year. Just last week, our office was involved in a record amount of fentanyl seized. Americans are dying. Our cities are more dangerous as a result of the failed Biden administration’s policies.”
Cartels “have seized operational control” of the southern border, Brnovich said, adding that Arizona has seized more than 6 million fentanyl pills over the past week alone.
Transcript below:
Anita: Homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas making yet another trip to the southern border today, as we learn border agents encountered a record-shattering 234,000 migrants in April. Arizona attorney general Mark Brnovich is here, he is also running for Senate. Good to see you. April numbers of migrant encounters are the highest on record for one month in the history of the Department of Homeland Security, 234,000. But I want to bring up the numbers of migrants removed in April, numbers are 113,000 expelled, 96,000, 96,908 of those are because of title 42. I did the math, that’s 85%. So, what happens when title 42 goes away?
Brnovich: Well, what happens when title 42 goes away, we will have a record amount of people illegally entering the country as we already are starting to see. Because the Biden Administration is essentially decriminalized and incentivized people coming here. And populations like Richmond, Virginia are coming over illegally in one month to the United States. We are on pace to have essentially Nebraska or West Virginia illegally enter the country this year. The overwhelming strain on social services. I was fighting the Biden Administration to give benefits to noncitizens, and cartels, regarding the amount of not only people but fentanyl and methamphetamine, flowing into the
Anita: Real quick, I want to turn to the revelation now of a drug tunnel, a fully operational drug tunnel connecting Tijuana to San Diego. At least six were arrested, and $25 million in drugs was seized next to your state. Quickly, 30 seconds, what more can you tell us?
Brnovich: You know, I’ve been to the board, I was a gang prosecutor. It’s not the first time and won’t be the last. The Biden Administration is not taking it seriously. These are sophisticated operations. You could drive a car through them. These are, they hire miners, hire professionals to build the tunnels, and cartels are enriching themselves. We need to do everything we can to get the federal government to stop the chaos on the southern border.
