The following column is the opinion and analysis of the writers:
We first met Martha McSally when she ran for Congress in 2012. Since that time, we have worked with her on various issues and we have become personal friends.
Our families own and operate cattle ranches near the Mexican border, which have been in our families for more than a century. However, the past 20 to 30 years we’ve dealt with an influx of undocumented immigration from south of the border.
Citizens close to the border had been begging for help with this matter for years, with no relief. That is, until we met Martha McSally. She came and met with Arizonans living in the border communities. She vowed that she would do her best to get us some help. Two weeks after being sworn into Congress, she brought bipartisan members of the Homeland Security Committee to the border so that they could meet some of the people experiencing problems and see the failures of the border fence between the U.S. and Mexico.
This was the first time we had gotten real attention to our problem. Shortly thereafter, Border Patrol deployment was changed to move more agents closer to the border, thus slowing down the illegal traffic. Martha was also instrumental in helping to save Fort Huachuca from a closedown that would devastate Cochise County’s economy.
She tied for the most bills signed into law and was ranked the sixth-most bipartisan senator, in large part due to her commitment to working across the aisle to deliver results to Arizona. For example, when Martha was in the House, she introduced the Border Jobs for Veterans Act to help service members find jobs and transition to civilian life while addressing staff shortages and vacancies at our ports of entry. Her bill was signed into law by President Barack Obama.
Martha fought to get funding to modernize the San Luis port of entry, modernize the border wall, introduced legislation that addresses loopholes in our current immigration system, and helped secure funding for 500 new immigration judges to reduce the current backlog of cases. She also urged Customs and Border Patrol not to remove officers from Arizona’s ports of entry in order to maintain the flow of trade and prevent illegal drugs and human trafficking into our country.
Attack ads by her challenger, Mark Kelly, have been spreading lies about Martha’s record. Recently, he has run an ad by a rancher who incorrectly states Martha has done nothing for border security. Any Arizonan who has lived on the border for decades knows that’s not true.
Do not believe the lies of this ad. Democrats are trying to mislead about Martha’s record of accomplishments and politicize border security, which unfortunately affects Arizonans on the border regardless of political party.
In fact, the National Border Patrol Council endorsed Martha because of all the work she’s done to secure our border and support the brave law enforcement officials who keep Arizona safe.
As our senator, Martha has proven herself to be a hard worker. She believes that there isn’t a problem that can’t be solved with hard work. She is a down-to-earth person who is not a typical politician. We know from the countless hours we have spent with her that she really cares about people.
That’s one of many reasons we are choosing to vote for Martha McSally and not Mark Kelly. We and countless other border ranchers have seen firsthand what Martha has done to make our communities safer.
We urge you to vote for Martha McSally on Nov. 3.
