In the midst of an unparalleled wave of immigrants entering the country, the sheriff of a Texas county that borders Mexico told CNN that his officers are finding it difficult to handle both local and immigration concerns.
It’s quite a bit. In an interview on Sunday, Maverick County, Texas, Sheriff Tom Schmerber stated, “On the law enforcement side, we’re suffering because we don’t have the manpower to take care of what we call the local business, criminal elements, and then the immigration problem.” “So, it’s a significant labor expense for us.”
Schmerber claimed that after getting requests for help from US Customs and Border Protection, he has frequently had to relocate personnel from local tasks. This assistance includes accompanying buses filled with detained migrants while they are taken to immigration processing facilities.
The sheriff declared, “So I’m having two units, two vehicles with my deputies, escorting those buses.” “That is two less.”
He went on, “But we have to do it, and we do it for the people’s security as well as, of course, the agents’ and the bus drivers’.”
His comments coincide with the fact that many already overburdened US agencies are being strained by the increase in border crossings.
According to border officials, organized transportation networks and phony travel agencies that advertise travel to the southern US border but ultimately link migrants with smugglers are to blame for the surge. Up to 1,000 people can pass illegally at once thanks to the traffickers, a border official told CNN earlier this month.
A Homeland Security official said last week that federal authorities recorded an average of over 9,600 encounters with migrants over a seven-day period in December along the southern border of the United States. That figure is one of the greatest sums ever documented. On November 28, the seven-day average was approximately 6,800 interactions.
A group of thousands of migrants left Tapachula in southern Mexico on their way to the US on the same day that the sheriff spoke about the challenges his agency is facing amid the influx. Organizers have dubbed the caravan the “Exodus of Poverty,” and it consists of migrants from Haiti, Cuba, the Caribbean, Central and South America, and the Caribbean.
One of the organizers, Luis Villagrán, stated, “The only hope of these people is to walk out, draw attention, and say we are alive.” “Working is all we want to do. To proceed, all we need are the necessary paperwork.
Benigno Sánchez, a Cuban immigrant, remarked, “We are afraid to speak.” “We require money. Our goal is to operate with integrity. What am I able to tell you? Regretfully, our government is corrupt.
The economy of Schmerber’s neighborhood was also impacted by recent federal measures, he added, as the US seeks to respond to the increase.
In order to reroute staff to handle migrants, federal authorities temporarily halted operations at the international railway crossing bridges in El Paso, Texas, and Eagle Pass, the county seat of Maverick County, on Monday.
The rail sector forewarned that customers will suffer as a result of the operations’ stoppage at Eagle Pass and El Paso.
Additionally, Schmerber stated that the closure meant that foreign trade that often passed through the area ceased, which negatively impacted what was anticipated to be one of the busiest times of the year for nearby companies.
US Customs and Border Protection declared on Friday that it was going to start operating again at the international railroad crossing bridges in El Paso and Eagle Pass. According to the government, vehicle processing is still not allowed on one of Eagle Pass’s international bridges.
But according to the sheriff of Maverick County, the five-day lockdown had an effect.
He added that many businesses slowed down as a result of the bridge closures. “With Christmas right now, that’s where all these businesses make a lot of money,” he said.
Schmerber stated that although the state has provided support to local law enforcement, federal assistance has not been extended to them.
He declared, “The law enforcement officers in this area have received no assistance from the federal government at all.”
The deteriorating circumstances resulted in a phone conversation between Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and US President Joe Biden last week to exert pressure on Mexico to take further action to stop the migrant flow. Both leaders concurred that increased enforcement is necessary, and in the upcoming days, top US officials are anticipated to visit Mexico.