Arizona has been at the heart of border security debates for many years.
President Trump's administration has made a point of moving quickly on key parts of his campaign, including efforts to add barriers to the border.
Secretary Kelly's visit today is an example of that push.
DHS Secretary Kelly and Governor Ducey toured the border ports of entry including the small pedestrian-only crossing at Morley Avenue in Nogales.
New DHS Sec. in Nogales today. Setting priorities for where to add to border barrier. @kgun9 #border pic.twitter.com/eOKrNXAOzi
— Craig Smith (@csmithKGUNTV) February 9, 2017
There is already about 700 miles of tall fence along the border, but longer stretches of the border are marked by nothing more discouraging than a few strands of barbed wire.
Drug traffickers do manage to get themselves or their drug loads over fences like this.
"We have a Federal job to do down here on the border, and we'll try to do that but I can't do it, couldn't imagine doing it without talking to men like yourself s who know the border better than anyone," said Kelly.
Afterwar, Governor Ducey said he feels President Trump made a good choice for DHS Secretary. The Governor sees no conflict between border security and strong legal trade with Mexico.
"I think those two go hand in hand. I think if you're going to have a healthy economy you have to have a healthy public safety. So Mexico is Arizona's number one trading partner. It's not even close. It's time four any other international partner. At the same time, we want to see public safety. We don't want to see these drug cartels and these human traffickers coming through our desert," said Ducey.
The governor says most of the discussion has been on stopping illegal trafficking. Nothing yet that would affect legal cross-border traffic to shopping or visit here.
After the meeting, Gov. Ducey said he feels Federal, and State government cash has strong border security and still have the legal cross-border trade so important to Arizona's economy.
