On Saturday, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs visited a strangely quiet Lukeville Port of Entry. During her appearance in front of the border wall that has become virtually obsolete, not one illegal alien could be seen.
Evidently, illegal crossings were temporarily stopped during the Governor’s appearance and resumed, according to footage provided by independent journalists, almost immediately after her departure from the area.
Wow! 10 minutes after Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs left the closed Lukeville, Arizona port of entry after her tour, hundreds of illegal aliens were escorted into the port! Can’t make this up! I’m here live. pic.twitter.com/el1OWq1b2o
— Just Jeff From Cali (@liberty_clarion) December 9, 2023
FOX News reporter Bill Melugin tweeted a video of the mass migration with the caption, “From our photographer still on the ground in Lukeville, AZ…another mass crossing through breach in the border wall after AZ Governor Hobbs left.”
From our photographer still on the ground in Lukeville, AZ…another mass crossing through breach in the border wall after AZ Governor Hobbs left. pic.twitter.com/wtGEW5RxN0
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) December 10, 2023
Hobbs was in the area for the photo opportunity to sell her request for more money from the Biden administration to address the ongoing surge of illegal migrant traffic that has shut down the Lukeville Port of Entry to everything but illegal traffic.
Hobbs is demanding more money from the feds, threatening to task the National Guard if the Biden administration won’t.
The Lukeville Port provides access to the coast of Mexico and border communities that are now suffering economically due to the inability for tourists on both sides of the border to travel during a normally busy holiday shopping and vacationing period.
The closure has forced travelers between the two countries to trek over two additional hours to go back and forth between Arizona and Mexico.
“This week I sent a letter to President Biden demanding the resources and manpower to open this port of entry, and we announced Operation Secure to step up state support for local law enforcement,” Hobbs said in a flat tone. “For far too long, Arizona has borne the brunt of federal inaction on our southern border and I am tired of it.”
📍Lukeville Port of Entry
Here on the border to assess the situation on the ground first hand & to work with Border Patrol to get them the resources they need.
Now is the time for action — not partisan politics. pic.twitter.com/r0Ilyw4pp1
— Governor Katie Hobbs (@GovernorHobbs) December 10, 2023
Residents and Republican political leaders in border states like Arizona have been “tired” of the wide-open border for much longer.
Speaker of the House Ben Toma blasted Hobbs over how the border crisis is being handled on Friday.
In a letter to the President, Toma and House Republicans condemned Biden’s decision to close the U.S. Port of Entry in Lukeville, saying it is “just another failure in a long disastrous record of mishandling the border crisis which is hurting the communities and people in our state.”
Toma added that House Republicans will continue to lead where others refuse.
“Securing the border is supposed to be the federal government’s job. But the willful inaction by President Biden is causing irreparable harm,” said Toma. “Arizona’s Democratic leaders, Governor Hobbs and Attorney General Mayes, also ignore calls to defend the state and hold the federal government accountable. When Republicans in the Legislature specifically funded a mission of the National Guard to provide support to law enforcement on the border, Governor Hobbs cut that mission short to instead aid the transportation and housing of illegal aliens. Arizonans can count on House Republicans to pursue meaningful policy and budgetary solutions in the upcoming legislative session to protect Arizona’s border, border communities, and the people we are elected to represent.”