April 10, 2019 / Modified apr 10, 2019 5:11 p.m.

Vice President Pence to Visit Nogales Thursday

The visit comes at a time when Homeland Security has no clear leaders at the highest positions.

Mike Pence 2018 Vice President Mike Pence in Alaska, February 2018.
D. Myles Cullen/White House

Vice President Mike Pence returns to Arizona on Thursday, this time to tour the Border Patrol station in Nogales, Arizona.

Pence’s trip was announced Monday, just days after President Donald Trump visited Calexico, California. It was also a day after Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen resigned her Cabinet position, leaving the department with no clear leaders at its highest positions, a department that includes Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Concertina wire nogales A sign warns against trespassing on federal property in front of bollard fencing covered in concertina wire at the international border in Nogales, Arizona.
AZPM

Nogales Mayor Arturo Garino said Pence won’t be meeting with him.

"If I had one minute or 30 seconds with Vice President Pence, I would say if he could do me a favor and remove the concertina wire. Eso es todo," he said.

Garino and the city have been fighting the Trump administration over the deadly coils of wire strung up on the posts of the border fence.

Pence will meet with CBP officials and tour that border fence.

Fronteras Desk
This story is from the Fronteras Desk, a collaboration of Southwestern public radio stations, including NPR 89.1. Read more from the Fronteras Desk.
By posting comments, you agree to our
AZPM encourages comments, but comments that contain profanity, unrelated information, threats, libel, defamatory statements, obscenities, pornography or that violate the law are not allowed. Comments that promote commercial products or services are not allowed. Comments in violation of this policy will be removed. Continued posting of comments that violate this policy will result in the commenter being banned from the site.

By submitting your comments, you hereby give AZPM the right to post your comments and potentially use them in any other form of media operated by this institution.
AZPM is a service of the University of Arizona and our broadcast stations are licensed to the Arizona Board of Regents who hold the trademarks for Arizona Public Media and AZPM. We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples.
The University of Arizona