{"id":446693,"date":"2025-05-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=446693"},"modified":"2025-05-14T17:22:44","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T17:22:44","slug":"arizona-national-guards-task-force-safe-strengthens-border-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=446693","title":{"rendered":"Arizona National Guard\u2019s Task Force SAFE Strengthens Border Security"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n U.S. Soldiers with the Arizona Army National Guard and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents inspect a cooler of fish for illegal drugs or other contraband items at the Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry in Nogales, Arizona, April 30, 2025. The Arizona National Guard and CBP are working together under Task Force Stopping Arizona’s Fentanyl Epidemic to interdict drugs at Arizona\u2019s ports of entry.
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\n A U.S. Soldier with the Arizona Army National Guard inspects a vehicle within a rail car entering the U.S. at the Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry in Nogales, Arizona, April 30, 2025. The Arizona National Guard and U.S. Customs and Border Protection are working together under Task Force Stopping Arizona’s Fentanyl Epidemic to interdict drugs at Arizona\u2019s ports of entry.
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\n A U.S. Soldier with the Arizona Army National Guard signals for a vehicle to pass through the X-ray machine at the Mariposa Port of Entry in Nogales, Arizona, April 29, 2025. The Arizona National Guard and U.S. Customs and Border Protection are working together under Task Force Stopping Arizona’s Fentanyl Epidemic to interdict drugs at Arizona\u2019s ports of entry.
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NOGALES, Ariz. \u2014 In an effort to disrupt the flow of illegal drugs into the United States, Arizona National Guard members with Task Force SAFE \u2014 Stopping Arizona\u2019s Fentanyl Epidemic \u2014 support U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the Arizona-Mexico border.<\/p>\n

\u201cArizona National Guard Soldiers are serving with one goal: to prevent dangerous drugs from coming into our state,\u201d said Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs during a visit to the Mariposa Port of Entry Nov. 18. \u201cTask Force SAFE is more than a state initiative \u2014 it\u2019s an urgent response to a real-time crisis affecting communities across Arizona.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since its stand up in June 2024 under the National Guard Counterdrug mission, Task Force SAFE has supported the seizure of more than 10 million fentanyl pills, 3,791 pounds of other illicit drugs and 16 weapons, with an estimated street value of $27.5 million, Arizona Guard officials said.<\/p>\n

Although Arizona Guard members do not conduct law enforcement or interdiction operations, they serve as force multipliers by enhancing CBP operations with three mission sets: secondary search and scan teams, rail inspection teams and vehicle breakdown teams.<\/p>\n

Search and scan teams help manage vehicle flow through X-ray systems, also known as Z-portals, and assist CBP with secondary inspections. Rail inspection teams support the search of commercial railcars entering the U.S. Vehicle breakdown teams assist with documenting, cataloging and dismantling vehicles when smuggling is suspected.<\/p>\n

These support roles enable CBP agents to focus on frontline law enforcement duties.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe allow more agents that are from CBP to be on that primary inspection lane, that initial contact, because we\u2019re manning the traffic going through the Z-Portals,\u201d said U.S. Army 1st Sgt. Benjamin Mason, the noncommissioned officer in charge of ports-of-entry operations. \u201cWe\u2019ve made a good relationship with CBP. We haven\u2019t had issues and have supported our CBP partners with the utmost professionalism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Supervisor CBP Officer Sam Johnson, a spokesperson with CBP\u2019s Nogales Ports of Entry, said the Arizona Guard presence has eased staffing constraints.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith them, we\u2019re able to have more lanes open and traffic is able to move more freely,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re not having as long of a wait time because they\u2019re here to take up those spots that the officers aren\u2019t having to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

One Arizona Army National Guard member, whose name is being withheld for security reasons, described the daily impact his team has on CBP.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe help in areas where they may take two extra officers out of the line to do something in particular. So, we take over those roles in order for them to be more productive out there because they\u2019re already short staffed.\u201d<\/p>\n

For many Arizona Guard members, the mission is meaningful and gives them a strong sense of purpose.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty fun and rewarding work because we get to catch illegal stuff coming through or things that aren\u2019t supposed to be in the country,\u201d said an Airman on the mission whose name is also withheld for security reasons. \u201cMy main motivator is knowing that I\u2019m helping to make the community a little safer by keeping those drugs out of the streets.\u201d<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.nationalguard.mil<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheNationalGuard<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/x.com\/USNationalGuard<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 \/ 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 U.S. Soldiers with the Arizona Army National Guard and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents inspect a cooler of fish for illegal drugs or other contraband items at the Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry in Nogales, Arizona, April 30, 2025. The Arizona National Guard and CBP […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":446695,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-446693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=446693"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446693\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":446699,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446693\/revisions\/446699"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/446695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=446693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=446693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=446693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}