A firsthand look at the border
Border security is our nation’s top priority. Right now the failure to enforce the law is creating a humanitarian disaster and endangering our national security. Over the weekend, I was in Yuma, AZ, to learn firsthand about the debacle happening right now on our Southern Border.
I talked with many law enforcement officials in Eastern Washington before the trip and they point to the Southern Border and the influx of fentanyl as the cause for much of the crime we’re experiencing.
In Yuma, County Sheriff Leon Wilmot explained that illegal crossings in his county have exploded and the toll has been severe. Since the Biden administration took over, illegal crossings have increased from 8,000 to 370,000 and migrant deaths in the desert from 9 to 79. And the fentanyl and human trafficking by Mexican cartels is getting worse every day.
I was surprised to hear Arabic ...
I speak a little Arabic and happened to meet four Syrian nationals who entered our country illegally. They said their intended destination after “processing” - I kid you not - is right here in Washington state.
Other nationalities that night included Ecuadorians, Venezuelans and Chinese. It's worrying that so many people are entering our country without being properly vetted - including many from nations that pose significant national security threats.
According to former border patrol agents, it’s likely that almost everyone we watched cross over that day bought a plane ticket to Mexico City and then paid a cartel-run, so-called “tourism company” to get dropped by the border and escorted by "coyote" smugglers.
The migrants were simply walking through the gap where the current administration had stopped construction of the wall. The border agents estimated that the Syrians likely paid $50,000 apiece, while Latin Americans pay closer to $15,000 per person. Many will now head to California to get some form of “state issued” ID before heading to their final destinations across the US.
My Trump administration hosts during the visit
Former State Department Spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus invited me to see the situation firsthand, and we were joined by former Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf and retired federal Law Enforcement Officer Chris Clem, who you can see below.
Wall parts rusting away
Along America’s Southern Border lies millions of dollars in steel fencing, purchased by the former administration and paid for by US taxpayers, that our liberal leadership won’t install. In fact, former border patrol agents explained how the current administration refused to continue building a permanent wall because it “looked too much like Trump’s wall.” This should not be a partisan issue…we have to fix this!
The humanitarian cost of this negligence
I took video during a 2 a.m. visit to the wall, where you can literally watch migrants streaming into our country. This is happening night after night, unimpeded. The group included young children. It’s heartbreaking to learn how some of these children are used as pawns by the cartels, who separate them from their parents and then REUSE them on multiple crossings.
Worse than that is the SHOCKING amount of child sex trafficking taking place with the open border. 85,000 children were “processed” and then simply disappeared or were later unaccounted for. There are terrible stories of sexual assault and child sex videos being made by coyotes and the cartels, who bring in more money from human trafficking than they do from drugs.
Local hospitals are also struggling with the immense care cost of migrants, which particularly impacts emergency room costs to the public as well as causing a massive increase in nurse fatigue. On average, five pregnant migrant mothers show up and give birth each week. Many end up in intensive care. The mothers are risking these dangerous crossings because their children become US citizens.
“However bad you think the border situation is…seeing it firsthand, it’s worse.”
The situation is destabilizing Mexico as the cartels grow emboldened; they've conducted more than 400 assassinations of local government officials and political candidates in Mexican border towns in order to control the lucrative smuggling routes.
This visit to the Southern border confirms our worst imaginings. Open borders aren't compassionate - they are creating human suffering and lawlessness in both America and Mexico. Please let me know what you think, and rest assured that back home, I'll be meeting with local law enforcement and political leaders to see what can be done to protect our communities.
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