Homeland Security: Border walls work
President Trump’s promise to build a wall will save countless innocent lives. Border Patrol agents have seen the success of a wall in Yuma, Ariz. — which serves as a prime example of how investments in personnel, technology and a wall can turn the tide against a flood of illegal immigration and secure our homeland.
For years, Yuma sector was besieged by a nearly unending flood of migrants and drugs. Even as agents were arresting on average 800 illegal aliens a day, we were unable to stop the thousands of trucks filled with drugs and humans that crossed a vanishing point and dispersed into communities all across the country.
The bipartisan Secure Fence Act of 2006 — supported by thenSens. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and others — mandated the construction of hundreds of additional miles of secure fencing. Yuma sector was one of the first areas to receive infrastructure investments. The fence was lengthened, and we added second and third layers to that fencing in urban areas. Lighting, roads and increased surveillance were added to aid agents patrolling the border.
Though there is still work to do, the border in Yuma sector is more secure. Even under lax enforcement standards, apprehensions in fiscal year 2016 were roughly a 10th of what they were in 2005 — and are on track to be even lower this year. Crime has significantly decreased in the Yuma area, and smugglers now look for other, less difficult areas of the border to cross — often areas without fencing.
For too long, the United States failed to enforce immigration laws. The Department of Homeland Security and other entities were directed to “pick and choose” which laws we enforced — and Border Patrol agents were encouraged to effectively look the other way when they did not have sufficient resources to secure the border.
Tens of thousands of aliens attempted to the cross illegally every month. Last October alone, more than 66,000 people were apprehended after entering illegally — and that is just the number of individuals we found.
Since the first week of the Trump administration, we have been enforcing our immigration laws. Apprehensions of illegal crossers have plummeted, in part for the obvious reason that the routine and certain enforcement of the law leads to enhanced compliance with our laws.
To our friends in Central America and Mexico — and throughout the world — do not subject yourselves or your families to the horrors of human smuggling. Smugglers do not care about you.
Do not believe the smugglers’ lies. If you come here illegally, you will be sent home.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle should come together like they did 10 years ago and give the men and women of DHS the resources we need to defend our homeland. This starts with fully funding the construction of a wall along our Southern border.
The lessons of Yuma sector are clear and obvious, and we should apply them to the rest of our border.