Does Gov. Doug Ducey really think cops in Alaska can help secure the Mexican border?

Gov. Doug Ducey has spent about $100 million in state funding on his Border Strike Force, an effort that he’s now taking nationally. But in practice, the group does little work at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Imagine how much the governor could’ve accomplished if he had used that $100 million to stop drug traffickers at the border or to fight drug addiction instead.

Drug trafficking is a huge business because American consumers can’t get enough illegal narcotics. As governor, it’s Ducey’s responsibility to deal with insatiable consumers and their suppliers.

The problem with his Border Strike Force is it does nothing to fight drug addiction and nothing or very little to “secure our border,” as Ducey claims.

Ducey's force doesn't work on the border

Look at Ducey’s own words and the reality of the Border Strike Force, which fellow Republicans from Florida to Alabama to Georgia – and yes, even Alaska – will begin implementing. 

Ducey said his announcement came “a day after a report by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection that disclosed migrant crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border are at the highest level in two decades.”

The migrant surge is true. But the Border Strike Force being carried out by the Arizona Department of Public Safety is neither patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border nor picking up undocumented immigrants.

What exactly are DPS officers doing to stop the flow of migrants? The governor wouldn’t say. At least not to The Arizona Republic’s Richard Ruelas, who has been reporting for years on the initiative that Ducey launched in 2015.

Ruelas writes that based on DPS logs, the force does not “by and large involve smuggling operations, nor are they concentrated near the Mexican border.”

It catches drugs, but how? Ducey won't say

Plus, DPS hasn’t really spelled out what exactly the force does differently from its regular officers. That brings me to another of Ducey’s selling points.

“While opioid-related deaths are at historic levels, fentanyl is streaming across the border and filling Arizona communities’ bloodstreams … in 2021, overdose deaths hit a record high,” he said in a statement. “That year, fentanyl was involved in more than 77% of adolescent overdose deaths.”

That’s true. America is facing a fentanyl-related death crisis. And yes, a lot of that fentanyl is smuggled across the border.

But how much fentanyl has Ducey’s border strike force seized? 985 pounds since 2015, the governor claims. Plus, 13,100 pounds of methamphetamine, 1,704 pounds of cocaine and 801 pounds of heroin.

OK, I’ll give him that. Confiscating illegal drugs is always good. But were those seizures a direct result of the strike force or just part of DPS’ routine work? Again, the governor doesn’t explain.

Too bad this is just an election ploy

Then again, who cares about the true nature of what the strike force does?

Ducey’s initiative – now called the American Governors’ Border Strike Force – is just an election tool to capitalize on the migrant surge at our southern border.

You don’t have to believe me. You just have to read Ducey’s own words.

He calls the expanded initiative a “Coordinated Effort to Secure The United States’ Southern Border,” designed to “Take Action While The White House Turns a Blind Eye.”

Securing the Mexican border from the throng of asylum seekers when state agents aren’t even at the border or have the power to nab them?

How are cops from compact states closer to Canada than Mexico going to secure the southern border? According to Ducey, they’ll do it by “sharing intelligence, strengthening cybersecurity and improving efforts to protect children and families.”  

Translation: State cops will keep doing their daily routines. They just may get more money for it, thanks to their bosses who want Republicans elected to Congress and state offices.

Americans hooked on drugs could certainly use a lot of help from Ducey and fellow Republicans. Then again, the  the “border invasion” may be a better way to get votes.   

Elvia Díaz is an editorial columnist for The Republic and azcentral. Reach her at 602-444-8606 or elvia.diaz@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter, @elviadiaz1. 

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