Governor Ducey and GOP nominee Kari Lake discuss border in visits to Yuma
FOX 9's Adam Klepp explains what could change at the border after the election
YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - Arizona’s Republican governor and the Republican gubernatorial hopeful for 2022 both visited Yuma this week.
Governor Ducey saying he is doing what he can to secure the border but ultimately the blame lies with the federal government.
“This is not an immigration issue. It’s a border security issue,” Ducey said.
Governor Ducey saw the shipping containers his office ordered to stack in Yuma's wall gaps in person for the first time on Thursday.
A project Kari Lake approves of.
“I appreciate Governor Ducey putting a barrier up,” Lake said.
Governor Ducey has established an “American Governors Border Strike Force”, a partnership made up of 25 state governors.
“To do what the federal government won't, secure the border, support law enforcement, and protect our communities,” Ducey said.
A recent poll by NPR showed 54 percent of Americans see an “invasion” at the border.
Ducey has not used that rhetoric to describe the border crisis.
Lake is.
“When I’m governor, and we sign that declaration of invasion, we are going to stop people from coming across illegally,” Lake said.
Lake says she would put the National Guard on the border to prevent illegal crossings.
In Yuma, migrants continue to cross nightly on the Cocopah Reservation and give themselves up to Border Patrol.
One asylum seeker from Venezuela says he knows crossing the border between ports of entry is illegal.
“I know this is not the right way to come…but I had to take desperate measures to flee my country," David Acevedeo said.
Due to Title 42 U.S. Ports of Entry are mostly closed to asylum seekers.
Leaving them with a tough decision, to either illegally cross into the U.S. to make a legal asylum claim or not cross at all.
