As the head of agencies that benefit from the state investment in law enforcement activities related to border crime, the Arizona Sheriff’s Association members urge Gov. Katie Hobbs to consider the important work done using the border task force dollars that have gone for local law enforcement throughout the state.

The $2.2 trillion global industry of transnational crime – facilitated by illegal trade – brings with it a storm of negative implications for Arizona, and we must take swift action to do more to help shut these criminal enterprises down and bring black market profiteers to justice.

Pinal County Attorney Lando Voyles wants to add human smugglers who kill to the categories that qualify someone for death row.

He also wants to add people who the state can prove will likely kill again.

Both sides are now appealing a federal judge's ruling that Maricopa County's prosecution of people who arrange to be smuggled conflicts with federal law.

Federal officials say the number of so-called "drophouses" discovered harboring illegal immigrants in the Phoenix area has decreased significantly over the last four years.

Police seizures of drop houses, where smugglers “stash” undocumented aliens en route to other parts of the country, have plummeted in Arizona this year, continuing a trend that began in 2008.

U.S. Border Patrol agents and Mexican law enforcement discovered an unfinished smuggling tunnel this week in the Arizona border city of Nogales.