The House Homeland Security’s Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security held a field hearing on Monday to hear from local law enforcement officials, business and community leaders, ranchers and residents—those who must live with the ramifications of an unsecure border every day— on what they see as the real border security challenges facing the nation.
Chairwoman Martha McSally (R-AZ) said the testimony
of several government officials from Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
at a hearing several weeks ago revealed “a deep disconnect” between how
politicians and policymakers in Washington, DC view the current
situation on the border versus what the actual situation is according to
those who live and work on the border.
...The southwest border remains a hub of cross-border
illegal activity, with DHS apprehending over 331,000 illegal entrants,
and making over 14,000 seizures of drugs in fiscal year 2015, according
to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report.
Today, in 2016, the entire border is controlled by
Mexican drug cartels, according to Art Del Cueto, President, Local 2544,
National Border Patrol Council. Cueto likened the situation on the
border to a prison, saying drug cartels control the border similar to
the way inmates control a prison.
“If there is one point that I want to make in this
entire testimony it is that the money that the cartels earn from illegal
alien smuggling underwrites the same organizations that are flooding
our streets with narcotics,” Cueto emphasized.
...Living in a border town can be dangerous. Frank
Krentz, an Arizona rancher, testified that at his ranch he has seen
houses broken into, vehicles stolen, trash left, and waterlines broken
by illegal immigrants crossing the property.
Frank is the son of Rob Krentz, a prominent Arizona
rancher found shot dead on his property after reporting seeing an
immigrant in need of help. Local authorities said evidence indicated
that the assailant was most likely an illegal immigrant.
Krentz recalled, “I was told once by a US
Congressman that the people along the border have become ‘numb’ to the
whole border issue. They have gotten use to the idea that this is the
new normal if they want to live here.”
“I wouldn’t say that we have become ‘numb,’” Krentz
added, “but we have become resilient; that we want to live in this part
of the world, that many of the families here have been here for many
years and generations and hope to have many more on this part of the
world they have carved out for themselves.”
...Enhancing security and promoting trade do not have
to be contradictory, according to Jaime Chamberlain President of JC
Distributing Inc., an Arizona based company with a 46-year history of
importing and distributing fresh produce from Mexico throughout the
United States and Canada.
“With enhanced security our enforcement officials
can, with greater certainty, secure our communities and bolster our
economic productivity,” said Chamberlain.
Chamberlain noted that ports of entry at Nogales
processed 640,000 trucks, 7 million cars and 21 million people this past
year, which represents more than $25 billion worth of imports and
exports flowing through Nogales each year. Moreover, it is estimated
that Mexican visitors spend over $7.3 million per day in Arizona.
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