Arizona Sheriff Says Illegal Border Crossings Have Skyrocketed Amid Biden Policies
Joe Biden has undone numerous border security measures imposed by Trump
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Arizona Sheriff Mark Dannels has said there had been an explosion in immigrant-related crimes at the border.
Sheriff Dannels said that vehicle pursuits of suspected human smugglers are now becoming more common in Cochise County, Arizona.
Dannels is tasked with tracking illegal border crossings by use of an extensive hidden trail camera operation that spans 83 miles of shared border with Mexico.
The camera footage showed 1,200 illegal entries in August 2020, but by the end of the year, it had doubled to 2,500.
“That’s what scares me about this whole thing,” he told The Epoch Times.
“Though I believe politics has no business in policing, it sure has an effect on the border.”
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Joe Biden has undone numerous border security measures imposed by President Trump, including temporarily suspending deportations of illegal aliens, reversing the travel ban from terrorist countries, and halting border wall construction.
Biden also pledged to allow 25,000 asylum-seekers awaiting their immigration case to be adjudicated into the US.
“The president’s view is that the approach of the prior administration was immoral, but also ineffective in terms of addressing the challenge—the many challenges of an outdated immigration system,” said White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Feb. 16.
But Dannels says the “best border efforts we’ve ever had in the last three decades in Cochise County was over the last couple of years.”
“We had a president that was very tough on the border, nobody would question that."
"And now we’ve got a president who’s going to do just the opposite,” he said.
“Are they rescinding them [executive orders] because it was Trump who was the author of it and it’s revengeful?
"Or are they rescinding it because it wasn’t working?
"I would question both those thoughts.”
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Dannels voiced concerns that Biden will sideline border sheriffs.
On Feb. 19, the Department of Homeland Security will start to bring in 25,000 illegal immigrants who are part of the program.
“We’re going into Mexico during a health pandemic and bringing 25,000 over. It doesn’t make sense. It’s hypocritical,” Dannels said.
“Either we’re in the middle of a health pandemic, or we’re not. Somebody in Washington, D.C., needs to make that decision.”
"Smugglers and cartels and now receiving the message that the border is “open for business,” and “that’s what’s scary to me,” Dannels said.
“We need to have a secure border. The cartels are the only ones smiling right now because they will benefit from this confusion,” he said.
“We’re going to keep doing what’s right, what the oath of office has us to do—and that’s to protect our citizens,” he said.
But he said he’s “not optimistic” with Biden's new policies in place,
“We’re going to have our hands full [this year],” Dannels predicts.
“We’ve been down this road before. For 37 years, I’ve worked this southern border, and I’ve seen the different leadership come into Washington, D.C. They bring their own ideologies, their own policies, and unfortunately, politics becomes the driving force of this."
“And what happens is, the local communities are the ones that take the impact.”
