by Tiffany Shedd
I live 90 miles from the US/Mexico border just outside of Eloy and only minutes to Interstate 10. You would think that would be a quiet piece of heaven in the desert where my family has farmed for decades.
Unfortunately, we know and understand the failures of an unsecure border firsthand. Border issues span far beyond the thin line that separates the United States from Mexico. My family has lived the ups and downs of this nation’s failed border policies for decades to the point that we have become numb to the sounds of our dog alerting us to trespassers and illegals stealing and damaging our property.
Most people teach their children about exit routes from the house in case of a fire. Here in Eloy, we train our children about where to hide and how to defend themselves when cartels use our home as a staging ground to continue to somewhere else with drugs and humans as their cargo.
Ask any of my neighbors or anyone else that has dealt with the border issues for decades. President Trump building the wall and being tough on cartels crossing through the desert was our only reprieve. Since his time in office, the border has deteriorated again, and you can find dumping grounds of backpacks and carpet shoes just hundreds of yards from my front door.
This is a no man’s land and controlled by a foreign criminal organization that is in the business of smuggling humans and drugs for profit. They do not care for our rule of law, those that enforce it, or anything that stands in their way of exploiting foreign refugees looking for help or hooking Americans on drugs.
Last I checked, I live in the United States of America and pay my taxes just like everyone else, but I deal with a constant invasion of sophisticated foreign criminals on an almost daily basis.
The border is broken and so are the policies that are not being enforced. I’ll say it straight. Governor Ducey has not made my home a safer place. His border solutions are few and ineffective. If someone like Kari Lake is willing to step forward and test new legal theories, I am right there ready and willing to fight.
Quite frankly, both Lake and Salmon have border plans that are tougher and more promising than anything we’ve seen from the last eight years of the Ducey administration. It is time that we have elected officials that will fight for us and hold true to their oath to defend us against these foreign terrorists. We need leaders with skin in the game – elected officials that understand our border and live it. Come stay a night 90 miles from the border with me and you will see that the security of Arizona is threatened and that the plans of today are not working.
As the next Arizona Attorney General I plan to take these foreign criminal organizations head on. The cavalry of the federal government is not coming to save us. We are the cavalry, and we need people like me – and a strong Governor with bold ideas to take a stand and fight for Arizona.
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Tiffany Shedd is a business and natural resource attorney, lifelong Arizonan, mother, business owner, and farmer. She is running for Arizona Attorney General.
Photo “Doug Ducey” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0. Photo “Tiffany Shedd” by Tiffany Shedd. Background Photo “Border Wall” by Amyyfory. CC BY-SA 4.0.
