By Corinne Murdock |
Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., visited Arizona farmers on Tuesday to discuss the impact of the border crisis on their livelihood.
Kennedy made the trip to Yuma, the area hardest hit by the border crisis. Yuma County provides 90 percent of the nation’s winter produce.
“The tsunami of migrants walking across farm fields and defecating in irrigation canals threatens the safety of that food supply,” stated Kennedy. “Last year, one of their neighbors had to plow under 88 acres of broccoli and personally absorb the $10k per acre cost after migrants tainted irrigation water.”
These past two years of President Joe Biden’s border crisis, illegal immigrants have caused millions of dollars in damages to farmers’ fields, often forcing farmers to eat the loss. Illegal immigrants hide in the fields, trampling produce and leaving mountains of garbage and human waste in their wake.
The filth has forced farmers to go to expensive, massive lengths to salvage their crops. In some cases, food safety laws force farmers to destroy their crops.
Prior to visiting with the farmers, Kennedy went to observe the border personally. He captured a typical scene of the border on video: a steady stream of migrants coming in outside of legal ports of entry.
Yuma County Sheriff Leon Willmot told Kennedy that solutions to the border crisis shouldn’t be partisan.
“This shouldn’t be a partisan issue, it’s a health and public safety issue. It’s a humanitarian crisis,” said Willmot.
Kennedy — the son of U.S. attorney general and senator Robert F. Kennedy, and nephew of former President John F. Kennedy — has had a lengthy career in the political realm, much like the rest of his family. Much of his life’s work has been steeped in environmentalism and health advocacy.
Kennedy arrived at the border on the 55th anniversary of his father’s assassination; just one day prior to the elder Kennedy’s death all those years ago when he won the California and South Dakota primaries for the presidency.
Kennedy, known for his extensive advocacy against major childhood vaccines, further rose to prominence over the course of the pandemic for challenging the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines.
Kennedy announced his presidential run in April.
Under Biden, there have been over 5.3 million border encounters and over 1.5 million estimated gotaways. Based on the monthly average of encounters, there may be 9.1 million illegal immigrant encounters by the end of 2024.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
