Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu raised our eyebrows a few weeks ago by claiming that Mexican drug cartels control areas of Arizona. In a recent interview with TPM, he tempered his comments somewhat. But that didn’t stop him from suggesting that the federal government is basically surrendering territory to drug smugglers.Earlier this month, we reported that Babeu had told The Washington Times that “Mexican drug cartels literally do control parts of Arizona,” and then how other sheriffs in Arizona told TPM that no, cartels didn’t control parts of the U.S. TPM tried to contact Babeu’s office for comment at the time, but was unable to reach Public Information Officer Tim Gaffney — we left a voicemail at a number he didn’t have access to. After the article was published, Gaffney reached out and said that Babeu was happy to speak about the matter.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=120833