A coalition of Arizona’s legislators are asking Governor Doug Ducey to press the Biden-Harris Administration harder about the ongoing border crisis. The legislators submitted a letter to Ducey on Tuesday, reminding him that President Joe Biden has neglected Arizona and the American people in terms of the border and refugee crises. In particular, the legislators asserted that Biden still hasn’t answered Ducey’s requests for resources to manage the swarm of illegal immigrants. They also lambasted the Biden-Harris Administration for using American taxpayers’ dollars to house, feed, and provide health care to illegal immigrants while ignoring Americans in need, such as homeless veterans, and while making greater demands of Americans, like mandating the COVID-19 vaccine.
What’s more, the legislators accused the Biden-Harris Administration of disregarding female military service members and Border Patrol agents who have been sexually assaulted and harassed by illegal immigrants. It is unclear what incidents the legislators were citing; AZ Free News was unable to locate public reports indicating that this has occurred.
The FBI and local law enforcement are investigating multiple cases across various bases in the country where Afghan refugees have assaulted or harassed women or young boys, either sexually or physically.
Last month, Judicial Watchdiscovered in records obtained from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that dozens of unaccompanied migrant children were physically and/or sexually abused or assaulted from January to February while under the government’s care. The legislators also asserted that the Biden-Harris Administration’s inaction on the border is indicative of a true intent to have an open border policy, though the administration has claimed otherwise.
Those that signed onto the letter were State Representatives Leo Biasiucci (R-Lake Havasu City), Mark Finchem (R-Oro Valley), Walter Blackman (R-Snowflake), Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek), Judy Burges (R-Prescott), Quang Nguyen (R-Prescott Valley), John Fillmore (R-Apache Junction), Jacqueline Parker (R-Mesa), Steve Kaiser (R-Phoenix), David Cook (R-Globe), Joseph Chaplik (R-Scottsdale), Beverly Pingerelli (R-Peoria), Brenda Barton (R-Payson), Kevin Payne (R-Peoria), Frank Carroll (R-Sun City West), John Kavanaugh (R-Fountain Hills), Shawnna Bolick (R-Glendale), Tim Dunn (R-Yuma), and State Senators Sonny Borrelli (R-Lake Havasu City), Wendy Rogers (R-Flagstaff), David Livingston (R-Peoria), Sine Kerr (R-Buckeye), Nancy Barto (R-Phoenix), and Warren Petersen (R-Gilbert).
As of press time, Ducey hasn’t issued a public response to the letter.
Read the entirety of the Republican legislators’ letter below:
The invasion of America’s southern border has become a national emergency. We are witnessing a surge like we have never experienced before. In April of this year, you took the lead and asked President Biden for resources to assist in the influx of illegal immigrants. To this day, the Biden-Harris administration continues to ignore the safety of our citizens and has allowed the nation’s border to be overrun.
The Biden-Harris open border policy is destroying our country. We expect the president and his administration to assist our homeless veterans and struggling citizens. Instead, he is using federal tax dollars to house, feed, and provide health care to thousands of illegal immigrants who have willfully violated our laws. This administration is demanding that all Americans must get vaccinated for COVID-19. Yet, they make no such demand upon the thousands coming into our country illegally. Moreover, we will not tolerate the Biden-Harris administration’s disregard of female military servicemembers and Border Patrol agents who endure sexual assault and harassment from illegal immigrants.
This willful invasion on our nation must end immediately. The duty to stop the illegal flow across our southern border rests solely on the federal government. The Biden-Harris administration’s resistance, and utter failure, to fulfil its responsibility is a disgrace.
If the Biden-Harris administration does not care about the well-being and safety of its citizens, then it is up to the State of Arizona to do what it can. We respectfully urge you to consider declaring a state of emergency, utilize the National Guard to assist as permitted to secure Arizona’s southern border, and immediately seek support from the Mexican government to assist the state in stopping this unprecedented surge.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
A former justice of the Arizona Supreme Court who used to prosecute cross-border criminals before becoming a judge says many Arizonans along the border feel abandoned by President Joe Biden, but he has an idea to help stop the influx of undocumented immigrants and smugglers coming into the state.
During an interview with KFYI’s James T. Harris on Thursday, Andrew Gould agreed with a recent assessment by Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels that the situation at the border is out of control, but the crisis “is far, far worse than you could imagine,” he said.
“We’ve created an open border, and the Biden Administration has essentially abandoned American citizens just like he did with Americans in Afghanistan,” Gould said.
Gould told Harris that there are options for making Arizona unattractive to those illegally entering the United States via Arizona. The options could be undertaken without the help of federal authorities such as the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Border Patrol, which get their orders from Biden.
One option which Gould believes can be easily implemented is establishing a No Trespass Zone from Cochise County to Yuma County on state and private lands along the 325 miles of border between Mexico and Arizona.
According to Gould, Arizonans are now “at the mercy of these cartels who are making billions of dollars off crime. They are pushing illegal immigration, fentanyl, methamphetamine, sex trafficking, extortion, murder, bribery. And there‘s no help for us coming from the federal government.”
The answer, Gould believes, is for local and state officials to join with property owners to post no-trespassing signs on private property and state land. The signs are necessary to satisfy the “reasonable notice” requirement in state law before anyone can be arrested for criminal trespass.
Gould brings a unique perspective to the subject, as a one-time prosecutor for Maricopa and Yuma counties where he handled major felony cases. He went on to serve as a judge with the Yuma County Superior Court and the Arizona Court of Appeals before being appointed to the Arizona Supreme Court by Gov. Doug Ducey in 2016.
The appointment as a supreme court justice came with a practically guaranteed seat on the bench until age 70. In fact, Gould was retained by voters in the November 2020 General Election for a six term.
But in April, the 57-year-old Gould shocked court watchers when he stepped down to run for Arizona Attorney General, who is not only Arizona’s top prosecutor but also its top legal advisor to dozens of state agencies. With illegal immigration and drug / human smuggling among the biggest legal challenges facing the state, Gould says Arizonans cannot wait on the Biden Administration to address the public safety, public health, and environmental harms posed by an uncontrolled border.
A no-trespassing zone is something Gould has discussed with border sheriffs, including Dannels and Yuma County Sheriff Leon Wilmot. Both expressed interest in the idea, he said.
A conviction for misdemeanor criminal trespass can carry a jail sentence of 30 to 180 days. Most non-U.S. citizens would be ordered held in custody pending resolution of the charges, so Gould says Arizona’s county jails would need financial support to handle the increased incarceration costs.
One option, he noted, is to aggressively target Cartel assets to help with the expense.
Congressman Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) announced on Friday that he will file articles of impeachment against Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over the burgeoning border crisis.
In a press release, Biggs called Mayorkas a threat to the country. Biggs intends to file the articles of impeachment in the coming weeks. The congressman hasn’t specified a date.
“Secretary Mayorkas is a threat to the sovereignty and security of our nation. As a result of his actions and policies, America is more in danger today than when he began serving as Secretary. He is willfully refusing to maintain operational control of the border and is encouraging aliens to enter our country illegally,” stated Biggs. “Under his direction, DHS is systematically releasing COVID-19 positive aliens into our communities, subjecting the American people to unnecessary and avoidable risks. Secretary Mayorkas is failing to faithfully uphold his oath of office and is presiding over a reckless abandonment of border security and immigration enforcement, at the expense of the U.S. Constitution and the security of the United States.”
Mayorkas hasn’t issued a response to Biggs’ promise.
AZ Free News reached out to both Biggs and Mayorkas for comment. Neither responded by press time.
Another leading the charge on Mayorkas’s removal is Congressman Chip Roy (R-TX-21). Last Monday, Roy advocated for Mayorkas’ impeachment.
“It’s time to draw a line in the sand, for the sake of our country, our communities, our kids, and those who seek to come here. It’s time to impeach @SecMayorkas for failing to uphold immigration law, enforce Title 42, and secure our border,” said Roy. “We demand a secure border and safe neighborhoods. It’s our country. These are our terms.”
THREAD: PRELIMINARY JULY BORDER NUMBERS
(USBP only, subject to increase)
Total encounters: 205,029
Total known gotaways: 37,400
1.3 million for FY 21 so far
Largest monthly encounter number since 2000. Total is bigger than every full-year total since FY21
As context for his call to impeach Mayorkas, Roy cited the preliminary border patrol numbers on illegal immigrants for July. This included over 205,000 encounters, with 37,400 total known “gotaways.” For the fiscal year 2021, there are 1.3 million of those so far.
Gotaways are illegal immigrants that are observed breaching the border but not apprehended.
Roy noted that these totals reflect the largest monthly encounter for illegal immigrants in all of DHS history. The current total is bigger than every full-year total since last year. In addition to that data, Roy shared that agents and officers have seized over 8,500 pounds of fentanyl during the first nine months of fiscal year 2021 – enough to kill every American citizen five times over.
Then on Monday, Rody led 21 House Republicans to demand answers on the Biden Administration’s border crisis from Mayorkas and DHS on Monday.
“[The] numbers are appalling and are a direct result of the Biden Administration’s weak border policies and your lackluster performance as the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. DHS’s mission is ‘with honor and integrity, we will safeguard the American people, our homeland, our values.’ Frankly, you are not fulfilling that mission,” wrote Roy. “The southern border is in crisis despite the Biden Administration’s refusal to call it what it is. The American people can see the numbers, and Americans in communities across the nation are feeling the burden of our open borders.”
The House Republicans requested information including any executive orders to repeal or rescind policies in effect before President Joe Biden’s inauguration, the total number of illegal immigrants (including children) and their demographics, the number of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) and Office of Field Operations agents who were reassigned from border patrol sectors to shelters detaining illegal immigrants, the number and handling of COVID-19 positive illegal immigrants, and information on all illegal immigrant shelter operations and their funding.
Biggs didn’t sign onto Roy’s letter.
Representatives Randy Weber (R-TX-14)), Beth Van Duyne (R-TX-24), Michael Cloud (R-TX-27), Debbie Lesko (R-AZ-08), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA-14), Gregory Steube (R-FL-17), Doug Lamborn (R-CO-05), Troy Balderson (R-OH-12), Glenn Grothman (R-WI-06), Vern Buchanan (R-FL-16), Bob Gibbs (R-OH-07), Matthew Rosendale (R-MT), David Rouzer (R-NC-07), Dan Bishop (R-NC-09), Lauren Boebert (R-CO-03), Bob Good (R-VA-05), Barry Moore (R-AL-02), Madison Cawthorn (R-NC-11), and Jody Hice (R-GA-10) signed onto the letter.
Officials with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released June 2021 operational statistics for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) last week, and it shows undocumented migrants are still seeking entry -legally and illegally- along the Southwest Border at an overwhelming rate.
According to CBP, there were 188,829 encounters in June 2021 with persons attempting entry along the Southwest Border. June’s total was a 5 percent increase over May 2021, which in turn had one of the highest encounter totals in nearly two years.
But CBP says more than one-third of the persons who attempted entry in June had at least one prior encounter in the previous 12 months. That means the number of people who had first-time encounters with CBP in June was 123,838.
CBP suspects the large number of expulsions during the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the unusually high number of migrants making multiple border crossing attempts.
The majority of all June encounters resulted in a Title 42 expulsion, according to a July 16 statement by CBP. Migrant single adults continue to make up the majority of encounters along the Southwest Border, with nearly 105,000 individuals being expelled.
Encounters with family units (at least one adult with at least one child) increased by 25 percent in June 2021, up to 55,805 from 44,746 in May. However, CBP says this was well below the all-time peak of 88,587 family units in May 2019.
Unfortunately, CBP says the number of encounters along the Southwest Border with unaccompanied children increased to 15,253 in June 2021 from 14,137 in May 2021. The good news is that the average time in CBP custody for unaccompanied children fell from 133 hours on March 29 to 28 hours on June 30.
“This sustained progress is a result of the steps DHS took to reengineer processes and mobilize personnel Department-wide, including designating FEMA to lead a whole of government effort to assist the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS),” according to the July 16 statement. “This support has included establishing temporary facilities that provide safe, sanitary, and secure environments for unaccompanied children as well as continued support from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officers to efficiently and effectively verify claimed sponsors to support the reunification process.”
The number of distress calls and medical emergencies that CBP responded to also increased in June as smugglers were more likely to abandon migrants who fell behind due to the summer heat.
“Although CBP does everything it can to locate and rescue individuals who are lost or distressed, the bottom line is this: the terrain along the border is extreme, the summer heat is severe, and the miles of desert migrants must hike after crossing the border in many areas are unforgiving,” according to CBP Acting Commissioner Troy Miller.
For the fiscal year ending June 30, CBP conducted 9,500 rescues nationwide, the vast majority along the Southwest Border. The agency continues to expand its technological capabilities, and has deployed 120 rescue beacons which are equipped with lights and signage visible from a distance.
Rescues are also facilitated through 2,165 placards CBP has deployed in remote areas throughout the Southwest Border. The placards inform migrants to call 911 and are uniquely numbered to provide rescuers with location coordinates.
CBP is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control, and protection of our nation’s borders at and between official ports of entry. The agency is also charged with securing the borders of the United States while enforcing hundreds of laws and facilitating lawful trade and travel.
In April, President Joe Biden announced his intention to nominate Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus to head CBP and its 60,000 employees. As of press time the U.S. Senate has not been asked by the White House to move forward with a confirmation hearing.
Governor Doug Ducey on Tuesday expressed serious concerns regarding reports that the Biden Administration could soon lift Title 42 border restrictions.
“I urge you to keep these restrictions in place. Lifting them will threaten the health and safety of not only Arizonans, but all Americans, and our already broken border will explode, overwhelming border patrol, law enforcement, non-profits and health care professionals,” the Governor wrote to U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle P. Walensky. “By lifting this policy, the Biden administration will be responsible for not only exacerbating our border crisis, but in effect, proactively and knowingly importing COVID-19 variants into the United States, starting in our border states.
The Governor is urging Secretary Mayorkas and Director Walensky not to lift a public health rule known as Title 42, which allows federal officials to prohibit the entry of those who potentially pose a health risk, including COVID-19. There are reports that the Biden Administration will lift these restrictions, endangering the health and safety of law enforcement professionals, health care personnel, border communities and all Arizonans.
“Title 42 is one of the only measures remaining in place which allows not only the federal authorities but also state and local public health professionals to maintain public health that they have worked so hard for over the past 17 months of this pandemic,” Governor Ducey wrote.
The letter comes as the Wall Street Journal is reporting “the pandemic is raging in South America, which has just 5% of the world’s population but now accounts for a quarter of the global death toll.”
On June 30, Governor Ducey signed Arizona’s FY 2022 budget, which includes $25 million for the Arizona National Guard Border Mission. It also includes $30 million to assist local and county law enforcement with border security costs, in addition to the existing state support for the Border Strike Force mission.
On June 10, Governors Ducey and Greg Abbott, of Texas, urgently requested all U.S. governors to send available law enforcement resources to their states along the U.S.-Mexico border as illegal border crossings, apprehensions and unaccompanied migrant children in federal custody increase.
On May 11, Governor Ducey joined 19 fellow governors to issue a letter calling for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to reverse their destructive policies that have created the crisis at the southern border.
On April 29, The State Emergency Council, convened by Governor Ducey, voted to allocate up to $2,536,500 from the Governor’s Emergency Fund to help fund the Arizona National Guard border mission. The Council also approved an additional $200,000 for the Search and Rescue Fund to support county sheriffs.
On April 20, Governor Ducey issued a Declaration of Emergency and announced he is deploying the Arizona National Guard to the state’s southern border to support local law enforcement efforts as the nation experiences a rapid increase in apprehensions and migrant children in federal custody.
The following day, Governor Ducey and a delegation of state lawmakers toured Arizona’s border in Yuma and received a briefing on the escalating humanitarian and security crisis from Border Patrol, local law enforcement and community leaders.
On March 24, Governor Ducey while visiting the University of Arizona criticized President Biden and Vice President Harris’ lack of focus on the situation at the border.
On March 19, Governor Ducey traveled to Douglas to get a first-hand view of the situation at the border. After taking an aerial border tour, the Governor received a briefing and held a press conference and a border security roundtable.
