Sheriff Dannels Says Politically Neutral Facts Prove Border Is Not Secure, Asks For More National Guard

Sheriff Dannels Says Politically Neutral Facts Prove Border Is Not Secure, Asks For More National Guard

By Terri Jo Neff |

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.”

HEAR SHERIFF DANNELS’ INTERVIEW HERE