Yuma sheriff claims daily arrival of illegals has gone from 40 to 1,000 under Biden

The Yuma County Sheriff noted that since Joe Biden's arrival in the White House, the influx of illegal immigrants has skyrocketed from 40, to a thousand a day. Seated before the Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee, Leon Wilmot denounced how in these last two years, the cartels have exponentially increased their drug and human trafficking business, due in large part to the impotence of the authorities and the suffering of the population.

According to the official, drug cartels are charging between $6,000 and $15,000 to smuggle people into the U.S. across the southwest border. In 2022 alone, deputies from the Yuma Sheriff's Office, reported some 4,600 encounters with people who had paid smugglers to cross the border. Wilmot lamented that just two years ago, his county was among the safest on the border, a situation that has changed dramatically.

Use of minors to introduce fentanyl

The sheriff highlighted how the criminals are using children and adolescents, who they ensnare through social networks, to smuggle drugs, especially fentanyl. "Children are also the pawns in the cartel's money-making schemes. Roughly 400 to 800 juveniles cross our border every day to go to school in Yuma County. The cartels use them to conceal and carry narcotics on their person across the border and tell them that the federal government will not charge a juvenile for smuggling, so you don't have to worry about being arrested," he said during the House Judiciary Committee's field hearing.

Crime on the rise in Yuma

The increase of people crossing the border has caused "an environmental disaster" in the area between the river and the open fields as a result of garbage, pharmaceuticals and biological waste "left by illegal border crossers." In addition, crimes in the area have multiplied, such as sexual exploitation of minors, drug trafficking and possession, assaults, kidnappings, robberies and thefts. According to Wilmot, five million doses of fentanyl were seized at the Arizona border alone in fiscal year 2021. During the past year, agents confiscated 12,000 pounds of the same substance.

They also warned about the health safety implications for the citizens of the area caused by this flood of people entering the country. Dr. Robert Trenschel, president of Yuma Regional Medical Center, noted that they have only one hospital and three ambulances to care for the thousands of illegals who come to them, as well as the county's residents.

"Abject failure" of the Biden Administration

Yuma County Supervisor, Jonathan Lines, called on Homeland Security Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, to keep his word and close the gaps in the border as he promised to do during his visit last year. Lines also echoed the sheriff's allegations and lamented "the abject failure" of the Biden Administration in its immigration policy.