Two high-ranking border officials came to Tucson on Monday to tout President Trumpβs border policies and to berate Twitter for locking one of them out of their account last week.
Mondayβs news conference was the latest in a string of recent visits by Trump administration officials to Arizona, which could become a key swing state in the presidential election. Both President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence visited Arizona in recent weeks, as did Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Secretary of the Interior David L. Bernhardt.
Democratic candidates Joe Biden and Kamala Harris also visited Arizona recently.
Mark Morgan, the senior official performing the duties of commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, and Ken Cuccinelli, the senior official performing the duties of deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, flew over the border area south of Tucson in a helicopter before landing at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base late Monday morning to speak to reporters.
Both officials were effusive in their praise of President Trumpβs border policies, particularly the construction of roughly 400 miles of 30-foot-tall border wall and the sharp drop in border apprehensions since last year when hundreds of thousands of asylum-seekers arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Cuccinelli cited βunprecedented achievementsβ by the administration, which βput its promises into action.β He praised Trumpβs βrelentless leadership and drive.β
Among those achievements was the seizure of more hard drugs, such as fentanyl and methamphetamine, in the last four years than in the previous eight years.
Video provided by the Yuma Sector Border Patrol shows a group of 108 Central American migrants being dropped over the U.S.-Mexico border wall …
The administration βtook bold actionβ to address the crisis at the border last year and listened to what Border Patrol agents said they needed at the border, Morgan said.
βTo me, as acting commissioner, this is very much an apolitical statement when I say that this president listened and this president delivered. Thatβs just a fact,β Morgan said.
Neither official seemed concerned about the propriety of DHS officials making what could be seen as a campaign stop for President Trump hours before the polls open.
When asked why the officials came to Tucson the day before the presidential election and whether the visit could be viewed as an effort to sway voters, Cuccinelli said he hadnβt been to the Arizona border yet and the state was βon the cycle to do.β
βWe donβt stop doing our job because thereβs an election coming or going and this is part of that whole effort,β Cuccinelli said.
The second focus of Mondayβs news conference was a tweet posted by Morgan on Oct. 28, which prompted Twitter moderators to take it down and lock Morgan out of his account for about 20 hours.
Morganβs Oct. 28 tweet said that CBP and the Army Corps of Engineers βcontinue to build new wall every day. Every mile helps us stop gang members, murderers, sexual predators, and drugs from entering our country. Itβs a fact, walls work.β
In response to Twitter blocking Morganβs account, Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf wrote a letter to Twitter executives.
Twitter moderators emailed Morgan, saying, βYou may not promote violence against, threaten, or harass other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease,β Wolf wrote in the letter.
βThere was no reason to remove Mr. Morganβs tweet from your platform, other than ideological disagreement with the speaker,β Wolf wrote. βSuch censorship is disturbing.β
Construction crews have begun laying the foundation for a 30-foot-tall border wall across the San Pedro River in Cochise County.The long-delay…
