The politicians who visit the 112-mile portion of the U.S.-Mexico border here in Yuma County, Arizona, always come with TV news crews in tow and plenty of things to say. I wish they could stay awhile and see the things my deputies witness every day.
They’d see dead bodies — lots of them. They’d see men, women, and children emaciated and rotting in the merciless desert sun of southwest Arizona.
Years ago, when I was still a detective, I had to process 14 such bodies, all found in the desert on the same day. Their cartel smuggler had apparently abandoned them to die 20 miles from civilization, in 115-degree temperatures, with a ground temperature of at least 130 degrees.
I shudder to think how those people died. Last year, my deputies found 35 bodies of men and women who died from the desert heat.
Yuma is the hottest city in the United States, with an average of 175 days of 90 degrees and above each year. It is 30 miles from the international border to the nearest civilization, so the only people in control of this situation are the criminal cartels. They alone determine who can cross, how many, and when.
In the last fiscal year, 138,000 people from 140 different countries crossed the Colorado River and turned themselves in to Customs and Border Protection in Yuma County, with another 8,000 people managing to elude apprehension. So far this year, approximately 200,000 people have turned themselves in, with 20,000 evading capture.
The crush of humanity is suffocating our local resources. Washington has installed three temporary housing structures and leased an entire local hotel to house the 850-1,300 individuals who are being apprehended in our county daily, but still, there is no room. Our single hospital is also filled to capacity.
The only beneficiaries of all this death and inhumanity are the criminal cartels that charge these poor souls at least $4,000 (and upwards of $20,000) to get across the border for an estimated profit of $15 million weekly.
We know how to solve this. We did it before.
“Operation Streamline” was a George W. Bush administration initiative launched in 2005 with the intention of establishing “zero tolerance” immigration enforcement zones along the Mexican border.
Unlike the current “catch and release” approach, whereby immigrants are released from DHS custody pending their immigration court proceedings, Operation Streamline permitted first-time illegal border-crossing to be treated as a criminal offense.
Illegal border-crossers could be punished with up to six months in jail and a fine for their first offense, with repeat offenders facing felony prosecution and sentences of up to 20 years.
Operation Streamline significantly reduced crime in my county and had a profound impact on illegal entry. It was a success because would-be border-crossers knew that they would be facing federal incarceration if caught, followed by deportation. That’s not the case now, and we are paying for it.
Yuma County is just one of the many places along our southern border affected by this Niagara of illegal immigration. There are no easy answers, although Congress needs to stop dragging its feet on comprehensive immigration reform.
Meanwhile, I have joined more than 1,093 western sheriffs in a letter of “No Confidence” in Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Vice President Kamala Harris for the Biden administration’s handling of the situation.
What’s needed is for the politicians who visit Yuma County to stop talking and begin acting, to put aside their personal agendas and political ideologies in the interest of public safety and basic humanity. We need a reinstatement of Operation Streamline and a return to the “remain in Mexico” policy that is now under Supreme Court review.
Leon Wilmot is the elected sheriff of Yuma County, Arizona.
