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But in response to reporters’ questions, she also indicated she would push back against President-elect Donald Trump’s threatened mass deportations, which she said would drain resources from initiatives that address real challenges at the border.

“I will not tolerate misguided policies that don’t actually help with the critical work that’s happening here, that you’re seeing here today, that actually keeps our communities safe and secure,” Hobbs said. “I will not tolerate terrorizing communities or threatening Arizonans.”

The Democratic governor declined to comment on specific actions the Governor’s Office could take in response to any heightened deportation efforts.

“We will absolutely respond appropriately when we know what those threats look like and how we can effectively respond,” Hobbs said. “I will work with the (Trump) administration when it benefits Arizonans. And if I need to stand up to them because their actions will harm Arizonans, I will do that.”

During the news conference held at the Mariposa port of entry, Hobbs said more than 40 National Guard troops are now embedded at the border with U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel, under her administration’s “Task Force SAFE,” which launched in July.

They’re part of the 170 National Guard soldiers embedded with law enforcement agencies across the state as part of the National Guard’s existing counter-drug program, she said.

“When I launched Task Force SAFE, it wasn’t about making headlines,” she said. “I saw an opportunity for the state to step in, to mobilize our resources to make a tangible difference in partnership with federal agencies.”

Since the summer, the task force has been involved in the seizure of more than 6 million fentanyl pills and more than 1,400 pounds of meth, cocaine, fentanyl powder and heroin, she said. Guardsmen are stationed within secondary-search crews, rail inspection teams and vehicle break-down teams at Arizona’s ports of entry.

“Every fentanyl pill taken off the street, every ounce of heroin seized, every gram of cocaine stopped is a serious blow to the cartels and drug traffickers doing Arizonans harm. They represent saved lives, families protected and communities strengthened,” Hobbs said.

CBP Acting Commissioner Troy Miller said the task force is a “force multiplier.”

“It’s an operational advantage,” Miller said at the news conference. “It’s helping us identify and seize that fentanyl that transnational criminal organizations are trying to flood our streets with. But it’s also ensuring our CBP personnel can focus on their critical law enforcement missions, while maintaining the lawful trade and travel that keeps our nation’s economy so strong is moving.”

Hobbs said the task force is part of her administration’s effort to crack down on drug trafficking, including signing legislation to target high-volume fentanyl traffickers, providing $84 million to law enforcement agencies along the border and supporting treatment programs for veterans.

Hobbs’ news conference comes after an election in which Republicans strengthened their majority in the state Legislature, and in which Arizonans voted to pass Proposition 314, a Republican-crafted measure — based on legislation vetoed by Hobbs — which will allow state and local police to arrest people who enter Arizona from Mexico outside a port of entry, if a similar Texas law being challenged by the U.S. government is upheld.

Opponents say it will result in racial profiling, erode community trust in law enforcement and burden already underfunded local law enforcement agencies.

Republican Governors Association representative Kollin Crompton called Hobbs’ news conference a “dog-and-pony show” in a Monday emailed statement.

“Arizonans know that Hobbs has been pushing the same open border agenda that just brought down the Biden-Harris Administration, and they are ready to hold her accountable,” Crompton said.

Migrant-rights advocates have lamented Democrats’ shift to the right on immigration issues, such as President Joe Biden’s June executive order limiting access to asylum for migrants who enter the country between ports of entry.

It is legal under U.S. law to request asylum once on U.S. soil, regardless of how one entered the country.

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris also failed to act in defense of the immigrant community, said immigrant-rights activist Isabel García, co-founder of Tucson’s “Stop the Hate” collective and an attorney with Coalición de Derechos Humanos.

“The country is gripped with this anti-immigrant (sentiment). Harris’ message and everybody’s message was, ‘We’re Trump Lite,’” García said. “We can’t go Trump Lite because it’s disastrous for our community, and that’s why Democrats lost.”

Hobbs also failed to mention on Monday that the vast majority of fentanyl is smuggled into the country by U.S. citizens at official ports of entry, García said.

“This morning it was still a lot of hysteria about border security, talking about fentanyl — but not a mention that it’s really not migrants that we’re talking about here,” she said Monday afternoon.

The ����Ӱ��AV reported Friday that Hobbs has declined to join other Democratic governors in a group formed to actively oppose some of the incoming Trump administration’s policies.

Many of those governors are a long way from the border, García said.

“We felt it was quite a betrayal because she (Hobbs) should have had Arizona and our realities represented” in that group, she said.

Hobbs said Monday she’ll work with anyone to “secure our border.”

“The people of Arizona and this nation want more than words — they want results. They want politicians to treat the border as more than a convenient place for a photo op,” Hobbs said. “Protecting our border is not a Republican or Democratic issue. It is an Arizona and an American issue.”