Congressman Tom O’Halleran has the distinction of being listed as “the most endangered incumbent in the House Democratic caucus,” according to Politico. However, after a recent debate with his Republican challenger, Eli Crane, O’Halleran might become known as the most unaware incumbent in Arizona’s Congressional Caucus.
In that debate, O’Halleran admitted that he did not know who the leaders were of the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC). The admission stunned the attendees, who have grown very familiar with both the president of the Council, Brandon Judd, and vice-president of the Council, Art del Cueto.
Both men now appear nearly daily in news items due to the crisis along the U.S.-Mexico border. If that isn’t enough, Judd has testified before Congress nearly twenty times, and has given dozens of bipartisan border tours.
In response to the elderly O’Halleran’s lapse, the Council tweeted out that it is “troubling to think O’Halleran is really that out of touch about border issues in AZ.”
NBPC is on national newscasts almost daily, we have a podcast, Brandon Judd has testified before Congress 19 times, dozens and dozens of border tours for politicians from both parties…so it’s troubling to think O’Halleran is really that out of touch about border issues in AZ. https://t.co/6iF98yla8E
— Border Patrol Union – NBPC (@BPUnion) October 29, 2022
While Arizona’s Congressional District 2 does not touch the U.S.-Mexico border, the drug and human traffickers do touch the lives of the people in the district. Pinal County, the most populated area in the vast district, is a corridor through which many drug and human smugglers must pass in order to reach Maricopa County, which serves as a hub for the cartels and the distribution of their wares.
Barely a day goes by when local law enforcement agencies in Congressional District 2 do not encounter smugglers of fentanyl, methamphetamine, heroin, and cocaine along with illegal weapons and drug money.
Earlier this month, Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb told members of the Arizona City Chamber of Commerce that 50 percent of illegal drugs that come into the U.S. come across the Arizona border. There has been a 400 percent increase in methamphetamine shipped into the state.
“This isn’t about immigration anymore, this is about human trafficking and drug trafficking into this country,” said Lamb. “If you care about humanity and you care about human beings, you should absolutely care about protecting our borders. It doesn’t mean you have to be in love with the wall or whatever, but you should care about protecting our borders.”
The residents of CD2 lean-right and are focused on inflation, education, and the border.
Still, O’Halleran has been virtually silent on the border crisis and has voted in lockstep with the Biden administration. He supported the funding for new IRS agents but rejected funding for new Border Patrol agents.
“People say how come so many?” said O’Halleran in August. “87,000 people when you’ve had an agency that hasn’t been, have [sic] the personnel within the last decade and a half to be able to address it. It’s important that we have the revenue streams.”
The residents of CD2 are thinking about stream, but not government revenue streams. They are thinking about the streams of revenue leaving their wallets in record time every time they go to the grocery store as well as the steady stream of illegal migrants pouring into Arizona.