You are not far off course. This guy knows a Sheriff is the highest law in the land when it comes to a county. If he were Governor and backing up good Sheriff’s and their county’s Arizona would be a mecca of freedom post haste and the Federal Government would be very surprised to learn of that little thing called the 10th from this guy as he shoved it down their throats.
And you can lock the border down cheaply, by rotating volunteer militia in. The exercise of guarding the border is how a border state can attain "well regulation" in the militia.