Yuma, Arizona – The Mexican cartels that control the southern border are endangering Americans as they smuggle drugs and violent criminals into the United States, a border town official told Fox News.
“This is not a political debate,” Yuma County Superintendent Jonathan Lines told Fox News. “This is a national security issue.”
“Unless this situation changes and we regain control from the cartels, If people are trafficked across borders, it will only get worse,” Lines said.
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According to Lines, the cartels have established effective and profitable smuggling operations, taking advantage of the surge in immigration to bypass overwhelmed Border Patrol officials. We can help you cross, but if you can’t afford that cost, you can traffic drugs or pay off your debts instead of cash.
“There are a lot of people who don’t like the United States for one reason or another. There are a lot of people who want to come here and do some damage,” Yuma resident and farmer Alex Muller told Fox News. “It’s like a time bomb,” he said.
Almost 100 known or suspected terrorists Two people were arrested at the southern border last year, according to Customs and Border Protection. By comparison, there have been a total of 26 arrests over the past five years.
Meanwhile, smugglers’ profits have skyrocketed in recent years. According to Homeland Security Investigations, the industry has raised $13 billion for him as of July, up from $500 million in 2018. CBP also said he seized 15,000 pounds of fentanyl at the southern border in 2022. This is his 206% increase from 2020.
Yuma County Superintendent Jonathan Lines says some immigrants have been indebted to cartels for years after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
(Fox News/Megan Myers)
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“There are all these cartels that basically run this border, they’re pouring drugs into it with people,” Hank Orza, a Yuma resident and fifth-generation farmer, told Fox News. It’s big money and people.”
According to CBP, encounters with immigrants increased from 480,000 in 2020 to 2.3 million last year.It was in Yuma 171% increase in migrant travel Between 2021 and 2022.
“The whole world is crossing borders and these people want to get caught,” Muller told Fox News. “There are a lot of people who don’t want to get caught.”
“Where are they going and who’s supporting them?” Muller continued. “That’s scary.”
The border town of Yuma, Arizona, saw a 171% increase in immigrant transit between 2021 and 2022, reaching a record high for national immigrant encounters.
(Photo by Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images)
Cartel fees for immigrants trying to cross the border range from $4,000 to $20,000, says a professor at George Mason University. told the New York TimesA man received a $20,000 loan to smuggle his two sons to the United States. The two sons were then found dead in the back of an abandoned tractor trailer in San Antonio along with 51 others of his.
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According to Lines, many immigrants “are benefiting from the cartels” even after arriving in the United States.As a result they pay off their debt.
“Not everyone can afford it, they come as indentured servants,” Lines told Fox News.
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Mueller said cartels took advantage Biden’s border policy For the past two years.
“The border is not 100 percent safe,” he told Fox News. “It’s wide open.”
“What’s happening is 100% dangerous,” Muller said. “It’s been like this for the past two and a half years, so I’m pretty sure it might be too late.”
To hear more from Lines about the Mexican cartels’ control of the southern border, click here.
