The White House’s denial that migrants are walking across the border sparked backlash from Governor Doug Ducey and Border Patrol (BP) leaders.
This week, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed that illegal immigrants don’t merely walk across the southern border. Fox News reporter Peter Doocy had asked Jean-Pierre why the unvaccinated traveling by plane were refused admission into the U.S. while unvaccinated illegal immigrants could walk into the U.S. and stay.
“It’s not like somebody walks over — that’s not how [it works],” responded Jean-Pierre.
Watch what happens when Peter Doocy asks Karine Jean-Pierre why illegal aliens are released into the country even if they don't have the COVID vaccine, but Novak Djokovic isn't allowed in for the U.S. Open: pic.twitter.com/Jdqmo0IpEN
Jean-Pierre’s denial prompted Ducey to call the White House “clueless.” He stated that the Biden administration’s negligence further affirmed his decision to finish Yuma’s border wall himself. The state closed those gaps last week.
“If only President Biden visited the border, he’d see the mass amount of migrants walking across the border,” wrote Ducey.
The White House is clueless. If only President Biden visited the border, he’d see the mass amount of migrants walking across the border.
This negligence is exactly why Arizona took action to close the border wall gaps near Yuma. 1/ https://t.co/9XQdJe5OJU
The denial prompted similar criticism from the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC). Jean-Pierre’s denial — along with discovery this week of BP Chief Raul Ortiz’s admission in July that Biden’s border policies lacked consequences for illegal immigration — prompted NBPC to demean the Biden administration as the “Barney Fife” administration, a slang term for ineptitude and incompetence.
“[This administration is] importing millions of fraudulent ‘asylum’ seekers,” declared the NBPC. “This mess will take decades to clean up, if it can ever be cleaned up.”
We've been saying it for nearly 2 years. The Barney Fife Administration is single-handedly causing the disaster on our border. They're importing millions of fraudulent "asylum" seekers. This mess will take decades to clean up, if it can ever be cleaned up.https://t.co/bzth4Pv4uB
Along with the historic number of illegal crossings, there have been historic highs of drug trafficking. Earlier this month, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) reported that fentanyl, meth, and heroin seizures increased greatly from June to July.
CBP Releases July 2022 Monthly Operational Update
In July, fentanyl seizures at Arizona Ports of Entry were up 218% over June. The number of fentanyl seizures also increased by 128%.
As AZ Free News reported at the beginning of this month, hard drugs have largely replaced marijuana for drug smugglers. The main substance seized by far is fentanyl.
NEW: @CBP agents at the Nogales, AZ port of entry seized 625,000 fentanyl pills in five smuggling busts over the weekend, including another 12,000 that were rainbow colored to have a similar appearance to candy or ecstasy. Agents also seized 4lbs of fentanyl powder. @FoxNewspic.twitter.com/Orr38BdFXR
What’s more, smugglers are now disguising fentanyl with rainbow coloring to look like candy or ecstasy, dubbed “rainbow fentanyl.” On Tuesday, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) issued an official warning that the rainbow fentanyl has been discovered in 18 states. Officials warned that drug traffickers are targeting children and young adults with the rainbow fentanyl to spark addiction.
NEW: The DEA has put out an official notice warning Americans of the “alarming” new trend they began seeing this month w/ rainbow colored fentanyl being smuggled into the country & appearing 18 different states. They say cartels are using it to appeal to children & young people. pic.twitter.com/tTtTK85u2B
It appears that the White House isn’t the only leadership sector apparently unconcerned with the state of the border. A source informed the Daily Caller on Monday that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was vacationing in Maine.
NEW: A source tells me DHS Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas is currently on vacation in South Casco, Maine while the border crisis continues to get worse and worse every day. He had security surrounding him at a picnic tonight. Yet, our border is being flooded with drugs and criminals.
The facts prove the Southwest border of the United States is not secure, despite what a Texas Congresswoman said Wednesday, according to Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels, who is asking for more Arizona National Guard deployment to the border.
On Thursday, Dannels told KFYI’s James T. Harris that comments by U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) of the southwest border being both sovereign and secure is “100 percent not true,” as is her comment that the situation at the border is simply being “subjected to biased and unfair narratives for political purposes.”
Dannels noted there were 1,473,000 million encounters reported at the southwest border from Oct. 1, 2020 through Aug. 31, 2021, up 325 percent from the same period last year. Those who turned themselves in or were captured came from 164 countries, with 63 percent identified as citizens of somewhere other than Mexico, he added.
The sheriff also said 183,000 border crossers were taken into custody during that period in the Tucson Sector which includes 80 miles of border Cochise County shares with Mexico. He added that an estimated 115,000 “getaways” were reported, of which 85 percent appeared to be adult males traveling without family.
There have also been 162 migrants deaths along the 372-mile Arizona / Mexico border, all of which must be treated as an assumed homicide by the local sheriffs.
Those, says Dannels, are only a few of the “politically neutral” statistics which easily show the Biden Administration is not providing Americans a sovereign and secure border as Rep. Jackson Lee claims.
“Show me a stat that says we’re doing something well and I’ll sit back and apologize, but I’m not seeing it, I’m not experiencing it,” he told Harris.
Dannels said the reality is that drug smugglers and human traffickers are invading the United States, exploiting not only the southwest border but all communities across the country. And the Cartels are using border crossers to move a huge increase of drugs in as well.
To counter the lack of attention by President Joe Biden to the border, Dannels recently asked Gov. Doug Ducey and Major Gen. Kerry Muehlenbeck of the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs for more National Guard members at the border. In addition, Cochise County recently secured state funding for equipment and resources to address the local impact of the uncontrolled border.
In April, Ducey ordered several Arizona National Guard members to the border to assist county sheriffs with administrative and maintenance activities. This frees up more deputies to respond to calls and investigate crimes related to the border crisis.
The governor announced a one-year extension to the deployment, which was welcomed by Dannels, whose county is home to several sections of uncompleted border wall as well as the Douglas Port of Entry across from Agua Prieta, Sonora. What is needed now, said Dannels, is for a collective message directed at the White House.
“President Biden owns this, he’s the messenger on this,” said Dannels. “The blame game is over now, he’s been in office for 10 months. It’s time to accept responsibility and secure this border.”
