Attorney General Says Pam Bondi Removed 60 DEA Agents Fighting Drug Trafficking in Arizona

Democratic Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes addressed the state’s ongoing fight against Mexican drug cartels on MS Now, and said President Donald Trump and his administration have abandoned the fight against drug trafficking in Arizona.

[NOTE: Trump has also faced criticism on the drug trafficking front for ordering military strikes on “narco-terrorist” boats in the Caribbean, while simultaneously pardoning convicted drug traffickers like Honduran ex-President Juan Orlando Hernández, now wanted in Honduras after his release from an American prison.]

Attorney General Mayes reported that she sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, requesting an additional 50 DEA agents, “at a minimum,” for Arizona. According Mayes, “Not only did she not send me an additional 50 DEA agents, she actually took 60 DEA agents out of Arizona and took them to places like Washington, D.C., so they can patrol places like Foggy Bottom, and pick up trash and run around after immigrants. That is not what we need.”

Mayes is asking Trump and Bondi to return the agents to Arizona and “to do their actual jobs.” She added: “We have one out of every 10 prosecutors now doing immigration enforcement where they should be going after these drug cartels. Those are the kind of resources we need.”

U.S. Congressman Greg Stanton (D-AZ), former Mayor of Phoenix, agreed with Mayes and pointed out the purported hypocrisy of Trump pardoning the former the Honduras President, who was convicted of drug trafficking in the United States.

Stanton wrote: “Trump is pulling federal agents from drug enforcement to chase immigrants, leaving Arizona checkpoints unattended and even pardoning convicted traffickers.”