Pat Dollard

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PINAL COUNTY, Ariz. — According to Pinal County officials, the border battle has been brewing in their area for years. But recently, they said, it’s come to a head.

“We’re saying this has got to stop,” said Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeau.

* VIDEO: Pinal Sheriff Prepares To Battle Cartels

Babeau said sugarcoating the border issue isn’t helping anyone, and officials nationwide agree a standoff with drug cartels is imminent.

“They will make a stand here to try to preserve these smuggling routes,” said U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Commissioner Alan Bersin.

“This is the most dangerous area of our county, where people have been kidnapped, people have been killed,” said Babeau.

Babeau said the cartels have changed the game. He said they have more people playing lookout for the smugglers on the ground, more guns and perhaps most frightening, people with nothing to lose.

“We’re not taking a back seat to this,” Babeau said.

He has changed the game too. Pinal County isn’t waiting for the cartels to come to them anymore.

They’re sending deputies out into the Vekol Valley desert to confront them.

“We’re going to find them. We’re going to find them and say, ‘You’re under arrest; this is the sheriff,’” Babeau said.

He knows very well that the guys with the guns might not stop and that he’s sending his deputies into what could become an all-out war.

But Babeau also said he knows he can’t sit back and watch what’s happening in his backyard.

“We’re not talking about illegal immigrants here. We’re talking about cartels that have nearly toppled the Mexican Government think they can come here to our country and commit these crimes and these acts of violence and we’re saying absolutely not. This is not gonna happen here,” he said.

posted by Kottie