Gubernatorial candidates Kari Lake, a Republican, and Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, are dueling over border security after Hobbs launched an ad claiming she will secure the border.
“Katie Hobbs will deliver whatever resources are needed to keep you safe, my team safe, our state safe. She’s not here to politicize the border. Katie Hobbs has a plan and solutions,” says Democrat Sheriff Chris Nanos of Pima County in the ad.
Also prominently featured in Hobbs’ ad is the Democrat Sheriff of Santa Cruz County, David Hathaway.
But Lake has a sheriff in her corner, too.
Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb is a national conservative figure who often reports on the border crisis.
In a release, Lake touted Lamb’s comments about her plan to secure the border.
Lamb said:
Kari Lake has a bold and aggressive plan to help end the Border Crisis here in Arizona. Her plan would declare an invasion at the Southern Border and mobilize the resources and personnel that Arizona needs to keep our communities safe from human trafficking and the deadly fentanyl poison that is harming Arizona families everyday.
You’re going to hear tough talk from her opponent about securing the border, but that is more political BS just to get your vote. Katie Hobbs has openly opposed filling the border wall gaps and supported ending Title 42, which makes our jobs harder and puts us in the line of fire. We cannot afford a Governor who will do nothing to stop the unprecedented human trafficking and drug trafficking at our southern border. We don’t need ‘politics’ we need ‘ACTION’, which is why Kari Lake is the only candidate for governor that can help law enforcement protect Arizona.
Hobbs has flip-flopped on Title 42, a Trump-era policy that allowed for migrants to be turned away at the southern border during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
That order has since been terminated by the Biden administration.
Wednesday, Lake continued her offensive against Hobbs on the issue of border security.
“Sheriff David Hathaway, who appears in Hobbs’ new ad touting her supposed credentials on border security, has a long record of opposing even the most common-sense actions to crack down on the border crisis,” she said in a second release. “In fact, Hathaway even denied there was a “migrant crisis” at all!”
The latter claim is supported by Hathaway’s refusal to accept National Guard assistance, and his reference to the issue of immigrant crossings as a “supposed border crisis.”
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Pete D’Abrosca is a contributor at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Kari Lake” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0. Photo “Katie Hobbs” by Katie Hobbs.Â
