Rancher: “In previous years, we pick up three, four, five a year that had the misfortune of coming across the desert and not being able to make it. Since January, this influx, it’s been crazy. I mean, like I said, we’re up to 17, 18 dead ones this year.”
The community of Hudspeth County, which is located a few miles from El Paso, Texas, is seeing a rise in crime and deaths following a surge in illegal immigration.
Fox News spoke with Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West, who said the county has "had several break-ins." He adds that "typically they break in, they try to find food, water, things to continue on their journey. Here recently, we had a break in where they broke into the house and stole a bunch of guns. That's a big concern."
West blames the Biden administration for the illegal immigration problems his county is seeing, stating, "I think the biggest thing is the Biden administration. Prior to him even being elected we saw this surge come up." Since Biden was sworn in on January 20th, 2021, over one million people have illegally crossed the US-Mexico border. A cause for the uptick is the halting of construction on the border wall started by the Trump administration.
The large influx is something ranchers are noticing, with one saying that he's coming across more dead illegal immigrants than ever before. Two ranchers and a detained illegal immigrant spoke with Fox News about the matter. They shared their fear for Mexican drug cartels, which profit from smuggling migrants across the Mexico-US border.
"In previous years, we pick up three, four, five a year that had the misfortune of coming across the desert and not being able to make it," he said: "Since January, this influx, it's been crazy. I mean, like I said, we're up to 17, 18 dead ones this year." Illegal immigrants are also afraid of the cartels, with one telling Fox News from a county jail that "since the mafia brought us, they took a picture of us. And if anything happens, we can’t get away from them. The migrant added that "they are violent. They want to spill blood. They aren’t afraid of anything."
Despite the crisis at the border, "The Squad" made up of left wing congresswomen including AOC, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib, have stated support for abolishing ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). When asked about this, West said "They're a bunch of idiots."
The Biden Administration has yet to take concrete action to fix the border crisis, something which prompted former President Donald Trump to visit the border at the end of June.
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