During a radio interview Sunday, Sheriff Joe Arpaio declared his determination to go to Mexico to “straighten out the illegal immigration and drug smuggling problem,” and he suggested Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump accompany him.
The high-profile sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, also suggested the U.S. deploy its military inside Mexico to work with the country’s own military and law enforcement to stop illegal immigration and drug smuggling at their sources.
“I want to go to Mexico City or somewhere in Mexico to talk to the officials,” Arpaio exclaimed. “Now if Donald Trump wants to go with me, he can go with me. Because we both will talk about the economy, which is very critical. So I’m not going to give in on this one.”
Arpaio was interviewed for “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio,” broadcast on New York’s AM 970 The Answer and Philadelphia’s NewsTalk 990 AM and online.
If he does visit Mexico, the famous sheriff warned, “I’m not going to go as a tourist. I’m going as a top law-enforcement official if I go.”
Arpaio spoke about some of his ideas to help with Mexico’s fledgling economy. He suggested Trump invest in real estate there to generate domestic jobs.
“If I was with him (Trump), you know what’s I’d say?” he asked Klein. “Hey, I’ll build two Trump towers in Mexico. Start hiring people there to get jobs so they don’t have to hop the fence and come into the Unites States. So I look at this as an economic problem, too. Not just a law enforcement, political problem.”
Arpaio said his border-security plan involves sending U.S. troops inside Mexico.
He said he would tell Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto “bilaterally that we would be happy to send our military across the border to work with their military and their federal police together and stop the drugs and stop the illegal immigration before it reaches the border.”
“That’s how you solve these cases whether it’s drug or anything else,” he maintained. “That would be my advice.”
Arpaio said he was serious about his offer to travel to Mexico, and has already made some inquiries. He said he encountered “resistance” from both the U.S. and Mexican governments and “I’ve had threats from cartels.”
“I don’t worry about it,” he added, referring to the cartel threats.
Two weeks ago, Trump and Arpaio appeared together at a rally in Phoenix, Arizona, to condemn illegal immigration and its harmful effects.
“Mexico – I respect the country,” Trump said at the time. “They’re taking our jobs, they’re taking our manufacturing, they’re taking our money, they’re taking everything, and they’re killing us at the border.”
Just last Thursday during a visit at the U.S.-Mexico border, Trump indicated Hispanics “already do” love him because the billionaire businessman promises he’ll bring U.S. jobs back to American shores so those here legally will have opportunities to work.
“I’ll take jobs back from China, I’ll take jobs back from Japan,” Trump said. “The Hispanics are going to get those jobs, and they’re going to love Trump.”
