'HERE COMES THE FOOD'
Sheriff ‘seeing results of a changed policy’
HIDALGO COUNTY, Texas — A Texas sheriff whose county sits on the Mexican border said that newly surging migrants essentially have an open door into the United States — and he believes the crisis will only get worse if the Biden administration doesn’t take swift action.
“Now, basically, the border’s open,” Hidalgo County Sheriff J.E. Guerra told The Post Wednesday, shortly after a ride-along with one of his sergeants.
“We’re hopeful with this administration. [President Biden’s] got an opportunity starting now, but let’s wait and see. They’ve got to make a decision here pretty quick because as long as they think that, ‘Hey, the border’s open,’ here comes the flood, they’ve got to stop that.”
Guerra, an elected sheriff since 2014, explained that the US agents who are typically watching the land border and the Rio Grande have been pulled off to man processing stations instead.
They’re handling a stream of unaccompanied minors and families who’ve recently been permitted to enter the country under the president’s new, relaxed immigration policies.
“If you know how to work that computer, you’re sitting in front of that computer, and they’re calling all the agents on the line to go process. So all that does is opens up an opportunity for these smuggling organizations to take advantage of that,” Guerra, wearing a cowboy hat, drawled.
“The new administration came in, they changed policy, and I don’t think that our federal government was prepared to have the adequate resources, and you’re seeing the results of that right now,” the sheriff went on, referencing a sharp increase in border crossings.
“They don’t have the resources, the boots on the ground, nor the infrastructure to handle what you’re seeing, and I believe that it’s going to get worse if the administration doesn’t go back or limit the policy. So I feel for my partners, my federal partners.”
While the county, the seventhlargest in Texas, has seen a steady decline in crime over the last 25 years, Guerra is concerned the relaxed border security is making it easier for migrants with criminal histories to enter the country illegally and spread havoc elsewhere.
“The previous convicted felons and the pedophiles and the people that have been convicted of sexual assault that have been deported, you’ll see those coming across in droves — and the cartels know that so they charge them a lot more money,” Guerra said. “As the sheriff, you know, the family units and the unaccompanied minors, it does not pose a security threat for me here . . . the special-interest aliens and the aliens that have been previously deported that are felons . . . those are the ones that I’m more concerned about as the sheriff,” he went on, referencing migrants who come from countries that tend to host terrorists.
With less security at the border, more people overall are able to cross over, which is fueling organized crime in Mexico because migrants and coyotes must pay a toll to the cartels in order to traverse the Rio Grande and cross into this section of Texas, Guerra said.
“Your Mexican cartels are making more money on humans than they are on the drug side and right now it’s a boom. It’s a boom for ’em. It’s huge . . . they’re making a killing right now,” Guerra said.
The situation is also putting vulnerable migrants, most of whom are in search of economic opportunity or escaping violence, at high risk of exploitation by the cartels.
“If you can’t afford it, and you have that little 15-, 16-year-old child with you, well, guess what? Well, you’re gonna go to Houston. And that little girl is gonna go to work in sex trafficking, and that little girl is going to pay off all your debt. That’s happening,” Guerra said.
“Now with the family units coming across, you might have a mother come in, say a mother with three children, well, the cartels say you can cross with one child, we’re going to take two children and we’re going to use those two children to smuggle two other [adults] and pretend that those are family units.”
Guerra, a Democrat, called on Washington to enact a “solid immigration plan” soon because if not, “This will not end.”
“We need our leaders in Washington to come up with an immigration policy that is fair, and until that is done, we’re going to continue to see what we’re seeing,” Guerra said. “It’s a concern, a national-security concern, a publicsafety concern and basically, you know, a humanitarian concern that this is causing, and our leaders in Washington just need to come up with immigration reform and come up with some policy and at this point, we don’t care what it is.”
When asked for comment, US Customs and Border Protection sent a statement insisting that “personnel are properly equipped to maintain border security” and that additional agents have been deployed to the Rio Grande Valley to assist with the influx.
“Due to fluctuations along the Southwest Border, US Customs and Border Protection is deploying additional Border Patrol agents to the Rio Grande Valley Sector area of operation,” the statement reads.
“CBP continues to deter and disrupt human smuggling activities by transnational criminal organizations and ensures our personnel are properly equipped to maintain border security.”