Growing border insecurity and concerns that illegal immigrants are infected with coronavirus are prompting the nation’s sheriffs to urge the Biden administration to take action to tighten controls.
At its virtual winter meeting this week, the National Sheriffs’ Association’s board of directors discussed the threat to the United States by the latest migrant surge and OK’d a detailed warning call to the president.
In a draft border security resolution set for a vote by the full association at its June 21-24 meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, the sheriffs said, “It is the position of the National Sheriffs Association that all efforts be made by the federal government to secure our nation's border to prevent harm to our nation and to her citizens.”
The sheriffs are on the front lines of the new crisis and cited the threat of increased drug and human trafficking, deaths, the potential for “lone wolf” terrorists crossing, and new cases of COVID-19 breaking out.
The influential organization was a strong supporter of former President Donald Trump’s border policies and efforts inside the country to track down and deport criminal illegal immigrants.
In one of the more shocking concerns raised in the resolution, the sheriffs said, “Estimates are that between 5% and 50% of the persons crossing without documentation are COVID positive. In any other construct, infection rates that high would be cause for alarm by public health officials. Yet, we are currently engaging in policies that have potentially opened, rather than restricted, undocumented traffic into the U.S.”
Currently, about 100,000 illegal migrants a month are being apprehended by border authorities.
The association cited other fears about the border crossers, including terrorism.
“We do not know who is crossing,” said the two-page resolution provided to Secrets and shown below. “One lone wolf foreign terrorist is a significant threat due to the changing nature of the terror threat we now face. We have seen ample evidence of this abroad with a lone terrorist using vehicles or crude weapons to inflict injury, death, and fear. There is a clear national security nexus to securing our international border.”
And the group is likely to seek federal help in handling the surge.
“The threat environment often changes faster than we can adapt. Politics only serves to exacerbate the conditions we face. We need to remind our fellow sheriffs that what happens in a border sheriff’s backyard, inevitably will impact public safety in his/her front yard. We need more resources directed to border sheriffs. An investment here benefits public safety on a national level,” it said.
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