"This is a continued message that those Americans living in our border communities – and those that wear a badge – have been abandoned."
 

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Texas Insider Report) — "While he’s in Arizona, I’m calling on him to visit the border to actually understand how our communities shoulder the burden of his Administration's failure to address this crisis," said Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema, before adding, "And then he should follow the law to quickly provide our communities the long-overdue resources they need to stay safe and secure.”

The Biden White House announced last week that Mr. Biden would be holding a $3,300-per-plate Democrat Party fundraiser on Wednesday, which will be followed by a more official-looking function to honor the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) in Phoenix on Thursday.

But with Mr. Biden making such a well-publicized campaign and fundraising trip to "The Grand Canyon State," frustrated lawmakers there – including Border Area Mayors, County Elected Officials, and various levels of Law Enforcement Officials – have ramped up their criticism this week saying that a trip to the entrenched border state, without acknowledging the chaotic boarder crisis, should not be an option.
   

 

First-term Arizona Congressman Juan Ciscomani – whose southeast Arizona District which stretches north from the border town of Nogales all the way up to Tucson – has seen local communuties and their law enforcement agencies over-run by the massive flow of illegal immigrants, including organized Mexican crime groups that overwhelm Border Patrol agents in order to move in criminals and drugs in unmanned areas.
 

• READ MORE: As Biden Undermines Border Patrol, Reps. Gonzales & Ciscomani Push 'Agent Raul Gonzalez Officer Safety Act' to Protect Them

And earlier today, U.S. Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens tweeted:
 

• 40,000+ lbs. of Marijuana
• 13,000+ lbs. of Meth
• 11,000+ lbs. of Cocaine, and
• 2,700+ lbs. of Fentanyl"

During an exclusive Washington Examiner trip to Nogales, Arizona earlier this year – a small border town with a population of less that 21,000 – U.S. Customs Officers revealed that they had seized more fentanyl hidden on pedestrians and in vehicles crossing into the U.S. at the time border city than any of the other 328 Land, Air or Sea Ports nationwide.
 

 

In Phoenix, Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ) called Biden's anticipated absence from the border "sadly unsurprising."
 

At the most western corner of Arizona, Yuma Mayor Douglas Nicholls said he was "disheartened," but could still take steps on the ground in Arizona to see what is unfolding.

 

"If the president's security situation makes it impossible for him to visit the border while he is in Arizona, then that should be an indicator of how critical the situation is," Nicholls said Wednesday.

"If he will not go see the border, he could convene with the group of a dozen Arizonan leaders while on his trip to hear about the crisis and its local impacts directly, instead of continuing to ignore it."

Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb is running in the Republican primary to replace Sinema next November, who has yet to announce her re-election plans, and has hinged much of his messaging on the state of the border.

 

"We are in the midst of a major crisis of human and drug trafficking at our southern border. It's not only affecting our border communities, but all of Arizona and the entire nation," Lamb wrote in an email.

"Over the past three years, the President hasn't been bothered to address these issues, and continues to bury his head in the sand as Americans suffer every day from this crisis."

Sheriff Mark Dannels of Cochise County, which includes Ciscomani's congressional district, criticized the Biden White House, but also lawmakers in Washington who "point the blame at one another" yet do not fix the problem.

"This action is a continued message that those Americans living in our border communities – and those that wear a badge – have been abandoned. Simply stated, an insult by our nation’s leaders!" Dannels said.