Eleven Republican attorneys general held a press conference on Arizona’s border with Mexico on Wednesday to discuss the status of illegal immigration since Donald Trump resumed the presidency. The group was very optimistic about the decreases in illegal immigration and related crimes such as fentanyl dealing.
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach (pictured above, lectern) opened the remarks, noting that he co-sponsored Arizona’s SB 1070 in 2010 with the late State Senator Russell Pearce. He said the tough illegal immigration law “really put Arizona on the map as the state that was leading state level efforts to stop illegal immigration and assist the federal government in the intervening 15 years.”
During the four years of the Biden administration, he said the Republican attorneys general “were the rear guard.” He said the first lawsuit filed against a Democratic administration over illegal immigration was filed by a group of states led by Texas, and the last one was led by Kansas, to stop giving Obamacare benefits to illegal immigrants. Of the 31 total lawsuits filed, he said Republican states have won the vast majority.
In contrast, he said Republican attorneys general are “playing a very different role now. We’re not playing a role of trying to force the federal government to do its job and to and to abide by the law, but rather, we’re trying to help the federal government restore the rule of law to immigration.” He said their role is as a “force multiplier,” which includes “writing amicus briefs supporting the administration and supporting other entities that are taking the law enforcement side of immigration cases.”
On the border, the Border Patrol is the biggest multiplier, Kobach said. In the interior states, local law enforcement entering into 287(g) agreements is the force multiplier. Those agreements are partnerships between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and state or local law enforcement agencies, authorized by Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. They allow designated local officers to perform specific immigration enforcement functions, such as identifying, processing, and detaining individuals for immigration violations, under ICE supervision.
Kobach said when Trump brought the partnerships back, 10 states signed immediately, resulting in the largest removal of illegal immigrants since the President Dwight Eisenhower administration. Those states are Kansas, Texas, Iowa, Montana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Virginia, and Florida. Kobach said three more states would be announcing that day.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall (pictured here) said that while his state is an interior state, it’s “impacted by an insecure border,” resulting in “the loss of life by fentanyl” and “increased risk of crime on our streets.” Since Trump took office, he said encounters of illegal immigrants have decreased by 93 percent, and “that scary group, which we know not who they are or where they’re going, decreased by almost 95 percent.”
Marshall said there has been “an impact, not because we’ve changed the law, but we’ve changed the leader.” He said the state has made progress dealing with invalid asylum claims. “One of the areas for Alabama which we were able to lead is trying to preserve the common sense rules of the Trump administration relating to those claiming asylum to make sure that there’s some standards to be able to evaluate for some proof, or somebody claiming asylum to be able to meet,” Marshall said. “We’ve seen that egregious nature of suing — settle, which was so effective during the Obama administration, and frankly, we learned our lesson.”
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita (pictured here) said it was his fourth trip to the border, and after the first three visits, “I can share with you that the morale of these federal law enforcement officials has completely changed for the better” since “they’re allowed to do their job.” He said Indiana was the first non-border state to file a lawsuit against the “lawless Biden administration. Because even in Indiana, you don’t have a border when your federal officials are demoralized and not allowed to enforce the law; every state is a border state.”
Rokita said he knows a teacher who quit her job since there were so many illegal immigrant children who could not speak English that she was always on the phone with a translator, resulting in her inability to teach the other children in the classroom. He said their jails are overflowing and the hospitals are packed with illegal immigrants.
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird (pictured here) said, “Under Biden, every state was a border state.” Since Trump became president again, she said there are fewer cartel activities, drug transactions, and human smuggling.
Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman said the location they were standing at by the border fence had 1,500 illegal crossings a day under the Biden administration, but is now down to four per day. He said his state lost 1,400 people last year due to drug-related deaths, and 2,000 the year before. He said it was a “combat zone” under the Biden administration. However, the state has since closed a loophole that allowed fentanyl to enter the state without inspection.
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen noted that his state is a border state on the northern side. During the Biden administration, he said Montana’s fentanyl seizures went up “20,000 percent.”
North Dakota Attorney General Drew Rigley (pictured here) said that fentanyl pills which cost five or 10 cents come over the state’s border to be sold for $60 to $80 per pill.
“The solutions aren’t even that complicated, they’re simple,” he said. “They’re just not easy. Standing in the way almost every time is a politician, political leaders who refuse to do difficult things to protect in this case, protect the people of the United States, and that’s changed.”
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson looked at the border wall and said, “This is the border wall for every state in the country … because even though this is physically located here, the policies set here — this wall, this location, may flow to the natural end state.” He said that enough fentanyl, which originated with drug cartels, has come into the state to kill 2 million South Carolinians.
Wilson said the state originally had three sheriffs out of 46 participating in the 287(g) program; now 15 to 20 have signed up. He warned that it’s not just physical borders, but “digital borders” to be concerned about, citing WeChat. He said, “WeChat is a Chinese-owned company that’s being used … for illicit activities in this country that will transfer funds and launder drug money.”
South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley (pictured here) said enough fentanyl was intercepted in his state “to kill all South Dakotans five times over.” He said he has authorized 287(g) agreements for law enforcement.
Utah Attorney General Derek Brown noted that the Drug Enforcement Agency just announced the biggest fentanyl drug bust in history, encompassing five states.
Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch said she already has “80 certified law enforcement officers” getting trained and making arrests.
Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen, who is running for attorney general himself, said those behind him are the “red wall of defense.” He said Trump enforced the law, while the “Biden administration was willfully not enforcing the law.” He said after Governor Katie Hobbs “negligently vetoed” the Arizona ICE Act, which he sponsored and Kobach helped him draft. However, later it was sent to the ballot where the voters passed it “two to one.” He said the law “simply says that we won’t stop or obstruct the federal government from enforcing immigration law.”
Yavapai County Sheriff David Rhodes declared, “The last four years have been the most difficult, unsafe, unsanitary, unreasonable kind in the history of this country when it comes to public safety and national security … now you’ve seen four years of what no law enforcement on the border looks like, and 100 days of what total law enforcement on the border looks like.”
Kobach wrapped up the conference stating that Democratic attorneys general are bringing cases in front of judges who will provide them with favorable rulings. However, he said they will fail in the higher courts, because unlike the previous administration, “the President is trying to enforce the law, not circumvent the law.”
Watch the press conference:
– – –
Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter / X. Email tips to [email protected].
