US-Mexico border controlled by cartels, not Biden admin

"This is not a political discussion," Yuma County Supervisor Jonathan Lines told the outlet. "This is a national security issue."

"Unless this situation changes and we take back control from the cartels, for the trafficking coming across our border, it will only get worse," he added.

The Border Patrol officials are too overwhelmed by the recent migrant surge under the Biden administration, allowing the cartels to easily establish effective and lucrative smuggling operations, according to Lines. Migrants unable to pay for help crossing the border are used by the cartels to traffic drugs in exchange for entry into the US.

"There's a lot of people that don't like the United States for whatever reason, and there's plenty of people that want to get in here and do some damage," Yuma resident and farmer Alex Muller tolf Fox News. "It's just like a ticking time bomb."

Last year alone saw close to 100 known or suspected terrorists arrested at the border, an alarmingly high number compared to the previous five years combined, which saw a total of just 26 arrests.

The human smuggling industry has seen massive profit increases in recent years, having raked in $13 billion as of July – up from to $500 million in 2018. Fentanyl seizures have also skyrocketed, increasing by 206 percent in two years.

"You have all these cartels that basically run this border, funneling people and drugs across," a Yuma resident and fifth-generation farmer, Hank Auza, told Fox News. "That’s big money and people."

Migrant encounters have also increased since the Biden administration took office, from 480,000 in 2020 to 2.3 million in 2022.

"The whole world is crossing the border, and these are the people who want to get caught," Muller told Fox News. "There's a lot of people who don't want to get caught."

"Where are they going and who's supporting them?" Muller continued. "That's what's scary."

With fees for human smuggling across the border costing up to $20,000, many migrants have no choice but to become indebted to the cartel, being forced to work off their debts.

"Not everybody is able to pay for it, and they come as indentured servants," Lines told Fox News.

Muller believes that the cartels have taken advantage of Biden's failing border policies.

"The border is 100 percent not secure, it's wide open," he told Fox News. "It's 100 percent dangerous what's happening right now. I'm sure it might be too late as this has been like this for the last two and half years."