Pinal County Sheriff Ross Teeple said President Trump’s border crackdown has been a “night-and-day” transformation from the Biden years, but warned that cartels are adapting with drone smuggling operations, China is waging chemical warfare through fentanyl, and the only way to finish the job is to deploy the U.S. military south of the border.
“Now that we don’t have a treasonous federal government, the border is pretty much shut down,” Teeple said on the Restoration Spotlight Podcast by Restoration News. “The cartels are going back to what we call the pre-Obama game plan, where they’re delivering drugs in more remote areas. The change in admin was a difference between night-and-day.”
Teeple said designating the cartels as foreign terror organizations has fundamentally changed what the United States can legally do to destroy them.
“Once you start identifying them as a terrorist organization, the country of Mexico has to decide whether they’re going to support the terrorist organization or support us taking out that terrorist organization,” he said. “US law enforcement can’t go into Mexico to take out a terrorist. But the US military can.”
In February 2025, President Trump designated six major Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, opening the door to military action, secondary sanctions, and expanded prosecutorial tools that were unavailable under prior administrations, according to the Congressional Research Service.
Teeple said anti-ICE protesters who showed up to demonstrate against his officers had no idea they were defending one of the most dangerous drug traffickers his department had arrested.
“They went to where we were arresting an individual that had 5 million fentanyl pills in his vehicle, 22 pounds of cocaine, and 32 pounds of methamphetamines,” he said. “He has already been convicted in the US court of a felony. He had an active warrant for his arrest from the Mexican government.”
Teeple said the No Kings movement has completely failed to connect with ordinary voters, and its own name better describes the Democrat party than the Trump administration.
“The no kings that they came up with is not resonating with the normal voter,” he said. “He was elected by two-thirds of the population of the United States.”
Teeple said the cartels have adapted to Trump’s border crackdown by taking to the skies and Arizona has had to pass new laws just to shoot them down.
“We had to pass a law in Arizona that enables local law enforcement to be able to shoot down drones because the cartels are now using drones to fly in drugs at a record pace,” he said.
Teeple said China’s role in fueling the fentanyl crisis is not a trade dispute but an act of war against the American people.
“China has never been our friend, never will be our friend,” he said. “For them to provide the means and the resources for the cartels in Mexico to poison and kill US citizens, it is clear that they’re the enemy.”
A House Select Committee investigation found that Chinese Communist Party-linked companies produce virtually all of the illicit fentanyl precursor chemicals flowing to Mexican cartels, and that the CCP directly subsidizes the manufacturing and export of those materials, according to the Heritage Foundation’s analysis of the committee report.
Teeple said the fastest way to drive illegal immigrants out of the country is to stop treating them better than the American veterans who fought for it.
“Stop treating illegal aliens better than you treat my fellow veterans,” he said. “Why is an illegal alien put in a hotel that costs $500 a night when I have fellow Desert Storm veterans who are homeless sleeping under overpasses right now. If we take away the benefits, the self-deportation is going to happen.”
Teeple was elected the 25th Sheriff of Pinal County on Jan. 1, 2025, overseeing a county the size of Connecticut with nearly 500 employees. A U.S. Navy Desert Storm veteran and 18-year Pinal County Sheriff’s Office deputy, he rose through the ranks from patrol deputy to aviation lieutenant before winning the sheriff’s seat.
Restoration News is an investigative outlet affiliated with Restoration of America, covering cultural issues, political funding, and border policy for conservative readers, with an emphasis on stories it says receive limited mainstream media coverage.
