Arizona border back in the focus of D.C. this week

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen is expected to make a return trip to the Arizona border this week, one day after a congressional subcommittee takes up the issue of opioids coming from Mexico in a special meeting in Phoenix.

Ahead of Nielsen’s visit — her second in two months — U.S. Rep. Martha McSally, R-Arizona, will preside over a House Border and Maritime Security subcommittee field hearing that will take testimony from Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and law enforcement and health officials.

Among those testifying at the field hearing are local leaders for Customs and Border Protection, the agency in charge of stemming the flow of drugs across the border, and Homeland Security Investigations, the main federal agency tasked with investigating transnational criminal organizations, including drug traffickers.

Other witnesses include the state’s health director and non-profits tackling drugs use and addiction issues.

Ducey is expected to talk about steps his government has taken to address opioid use.

“Arizona’s got a track record of not just talking about this issues, but really finding some bipartisan solutions that can make a real difference and try to solve some of these problems that really the whole country is dealing with,” Ducey spokesman Daniel Scarpinato said.

Ducey is expected to tout the Arizona Opioid Epidemic Act, which the Arizona Legislature approved during a special session earlier this year, with unanimous support.

Because of the hearing’s emphasis on the border, Ducey also is expected to play up his Border Strike Force, which has been in place since 2015 and has netted over 53,000 pounds of marijuana and more than 2,400 arrests.

Arizona continues to be a major corridor for drug smuggling, Customs and Border Protection statistics show. It remains the main gateway for marijuana along the entire U.S.-Mexico border.

But overall, drug smuggling has shifted to small quantities of more potent drugs being smuggled through the legal ports of entry. Last year, cocaine seizures by customs officers at the ports increased by a third, while heroin seizures rose by 40 percent. Meth seizures spiked by more than 250 percent.

The increase in smuggling of harder drugs comes amid a shortage of customs officers to help stem the flow. CBP has categorized Arizona as a “mission critical” area to recruit and fill vacant customs jobs.

On Thursday, Nielsen is set to return to the state.

The Department of Homeland Security has not released details about her forthcoming trip, but she’s expected to visit the Douglas and Nogales border areas, the department and Capitol Hill officials said Tuesday.

Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels declined to discuss the visit, but he confirmed that he will meet Thursday with Nielsen.

Dannels added that two other Arizona border sheriffs will also be at the meeting, along with the leadership from the National Sheriffs’ Association, Western States Sheriffs’ Association and the Southwestern Border Sheriffs’ Coalition.

Nielsen last visited Arizona on April 18. She and Ducey toured the border near San Luis, as the first wave of National Guard troops deployed to the Yuma area as part of Operation Guardian Support.

During her visit, she said the Guard was needed at the border to address a continuing crisis, which she said includes an unknown number of drugs and criminals making their way across the border.

“I want to make something quite clear: Any number, any percentage that includes a vast amount of drugs, a vast amount of criminals, vast amounts of those who want to do the country harm is not acceptable,” Nielsen said then.

The secretary’s visit also comes amid speculation over her future in the Cabinet over disagreements with President Donald Trump over immigration policy.