TUCSON, AZ — Last month DPS troopers made a bust along State Route 87 near Fort McDowell. $1.2 million worth of fentanyl pills were confiscated. Nationally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 150 people die from fentanyl overdoses a day. The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol reports 90% of the fentanyl entering the U.S. illegally comes through the Arizona and California Borders.
"When these drug pushers are bringing fentanyl across the border that's going to be the last thing they do," Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said during the first Republican presidential debate. "We're going to use force and we're going to leave them stone-cold dead," DeSantis said.
In their debates, several Republican candidates for president promoted the use of military force in Mexico as a response to the nation's fentanyl epidemic.
"We will send in our special operations, and we will take out the cartels. We will take out their operations," said former South Carolina Governor and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.
The tough talk drew applause, but many political leaders in Phoenix and Mexico City are not comfortable with the tough talk. Mexico is the United States' and Arizona's largest trading partner. In 2022, Arizona did $21.6 billion in business with Mexico.
"I think it's a pretty bad idea, that's not how we're going to solve the problem," Governor Katie Hobbs said when asked about the prospects of U.S. military intervention against Mexican drug cartels.
In Mexico City, political leaders see similarities to 2015, when Donald Trump said, "When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists," when he announced he was running for president. Senator Claudia Ruiz Massieu Salinas was Mexico's Secretary of Foreign Affairs then. "We're concerned this kind of electoral populism and Trumpism will continue to gain force and traction within the campaign," Senator Ruiz said.
Senator Ruiz Massieu says the Republicans are grandstanding and doesn't believe talk of U.S. military intervention will affect trade. "It's a dynamic of its own," Massieu said. He also said relations are too important to both countries. "What are the stakes if the relationship sours not only in terms of trade and economic growth but in terms of security."
The Senator said Thursday's visit by Secretary of State Antony Blinkin to Mexico City helps build trust and cooperation between the countries. But as illegal fentanyl keeps killing and migrants keep coming, calls for military action will only grow louder.
