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The departure of Nanos, along with Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway, came after a contentious online meeting about the creation of the joint border task force called Operation Desert Guardian. Its aim is to combat drug and human trafficking in Pima, Cochise, Santa Cruz and Yuma counties.

It would partner officials from federal and state agencies with local sheriffs’ departments to address border issues including “identifying and mitigating security vulnerabilities� along the border, combating border-related crimes perpetrated by transnational criminal organizations and dismantling their supply chains and operating networks, a news release from the governor’s office said.

Both Nanos and Hathaway, however, said they were surprised to be invited to the joint meeting for the task force without being asked to give input prior to it being created.

“It was like them trying to come up with the concept during the phone call,� Hathaway said. “It was very apparent that it was kind of an ‘attempt’ to put together a task force.�

Even if there was a framework put in place for Operation Desert Guardian, Hathaway said he doesn’t have the staff to dedicate to the project. With 44 sworn officers and 1200-square-miles of land to cover, it is more advantageous to Santa Cruz residents to have deputies on the streets, not at the border where Hathaway said federal agents are doing a fine job combating crime.

“It’s just not doable from my perspective,� Hathaway said.

Sheriff Nanos has made his stance on the task force quite clear on Tuesday’s task force call.

He made it through less than 15 minutes before he left the meeting and signed off.

“I left because I didn’t see any value in (the call),� Nanos said, adding that he felt talked at instead of being asked about his county’s needs.

“Tell me what it is you’re going to do and we’ll sit down and decide whether or not it’s a benefit and value to my constituents,� he said. “In my opinion, this is nothing more than a political issue that has very little to do with public safety.�

Hobbs has proposed spending $28 million on the border task force, in addition to the $100 million her administration has previously given to local agencies near the border. The funds will come from Arizona’s border security fund.

Nanos and Hathaway both suggest that this federal money be divided among the four counties on the Arizona-Mexico border and be used to address each department’s immediate needs.

“That money would have gone a long way towards helping with my staffing issues to deal with things like, oh I don’t know, violent crime, homicides,� Nanos said. “We’ve had, in the Pima County area, well over 100 homicides last year, yet none of them were on the border. We had some 400 shooting incidents just in the city of Tucson itself ... none of them were on the border.�

Being already involved in several task force efforts, and assisting neighboring counties and cities with their public safety problems is plenty to have on deal with, Nanos said.

“I don’t need to solve the federal government’s problems,� he said.

It’s not as if Sheriff Hathaway is against targeting drug and human trafficking. But Hathaway said he is involved in task forces addressing those issues already. As the largest border county, with two ports of entry, it’s up to federal agents to confiscate illegal drugs and contraband at border crossings, he said.

Hathaway said he and his deputies have their own duties, like spending 24/7 targeting violent and properties crimes, as well as traffic offenses throughout the county. This is an expectation of Santa Cruz County residents.

With 30 border patrol agents for every one sworn deputy, it’s difficult for Hathaway to see the benefit of buying into a state plan that seems half hatched, he said. “They are trying to make state agencies or sheriff offices become border agents in a way,� he said.

But, for Hathaway, the task force proposal goes beyond that.

He said the new task force suggests there is a crisis in his border community — some sort of “war zone� where things are “out of control�. It alludes to these counties being crime-ridden and “crazy�. That’s not the case, Hathaway said.

“People will say, ‘Do you have running gun battles going through your front yard?!’. No. That’s all hype and folklore and negative perception about the border. That’s not reality.�

The creation of a new taskforce also makes little sense to Yuma County Sheriff Leon Wilmont, a Republican, who previously told The Arizona Republic that the funds would be wasted on something that does not need to be rebuilt. He told the Republic he worries that Operation Desert Guardian will duplicate, and not complement, the work already being done in his department. Instead, he welcomed state police and personnel to join his team, which has already established infrastructure, knowledge of the county’s geography and needs, as well as specialized challenges.

“They need to come in and be a partner,� Wilmont said.

Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels previously told the Star that he feels differently than his law enforcement counterparts in regards to Hobbs’ task force creation. In fact, he said he’s looking forward to the collaboration.

“I’m a big believer in the regional partnerships, with state, local and federal working together,� Dannels, a Republican, said. “The criminals are held accountable when we do that.�

Cochise County already has a state-funded “border operations center,� which opened last fall, through which local officials assist in border surveillance and share information with federal agencies.

“It’s already up and running,� Dannels said. “Whatever the operational plan is (for the new task force), I want to make sure it complements and partners with that center.�