The bill passed by the Senate in July attempts to solve the problem of illegal immigration with a $46 billion “border surge,” adding 20,000 new Border Patrol agents, and $3 billion in new monitoring technology. But sheriffs policing the border say that misses the mark.
The House and Senate have spent months developing plans to secure the border with Mexico. But the sheriffs who help patrol the nearly 2,000-mile border – Republicans and Democrats who oversee vastly different regions – say both approaches are seriously misguided. Here are some thoughts:
It’s monsoon season in southern Arizona, so Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels has to drive slowly along the hilly, rocky, muddy terrain that covers the 83-mile border his county shares with Mexico.
He scans the horizon to see whether any immigrants or drug smugglers are approaching the 4-foot-high border fence. Glancing at the lights of a city in Mexico, he turns and says, “Seen any Border Patrol agents?”
Dannels’ complaints about the lack of Border Patrol agents along the border suggests he supports a Senate plan to flood the Southwest border with 20,000 new agents. But he doesn’t. He doesn’t think border security proposals in the House will do much, either.
“The people in my county are very frustrated,” Dannels says, looking at the lush green of a valley that will soon shrivel to brown in the desert sun. “They feel border security hasn’t been taken seriously.”
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