Yuma County Sheriff: ‘Every sheriff in this country is a border sheriff’

Yuma County Border Sheriff Leon Wilmot, who has testified his border concerns to Washington, said the funding needed for border security comes at the forefront of public safety, not immigration.

President Donald Trump announced his plan to visit the Southern border Thursday. No word yet on where it will be.

“Government’s responsibility first and foremost is public safety and the protection of the citizens that we serve and that is something sheriffs across this country have said time and time again. Get the politics out of public safety, you should never embed the two,” said Leon Wilmot, Yuma County Sheriff.

He said with the rise in cartel activity, illegal immigration, and an influx of migrants, border issues have expanded further than the border.

“It is throughout the whole United States so pretty much every sheriff in this country is a border sheriff because of the inaction that Congress has done. They have created this problem,” he said.

Last year alone, there were 140,000 family units that were apprehended and released into the community, according to the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office. Wilmot said the route Congress is taking allows the cartels to feed its criminal enterprise.

“Each and every one of these folks that are coming across is paying the cartels to get guided to the border and across it at 5,000 to 6,000 dollars a piece,” he said.

Sheriff Wilmot recalls when 115 backpackers were apprehended by the sheriff’s office last year for crossing into the United States illegally.

“What we have going on now is basically a crime scene that covers all 50 states because now one out of nine, on average, individuals that are claiming asylum actually have a claim.”

The State Criminal Apprehension Program (SCAP) is set up for people who enter the country illegally, committing a state crime. Wilmot said the sheriff’s office is always trying to get reimbursed from the federal government for exercising its resources for those arrests.

“In Yuma County alone, we are looking at one million dollars in loss for housing illegal aliens for committing state crimes,” Wilmot said. He added, on average, the federal government gives back $.05 to $.06 on the dollar. “We are having to eat that cost,” Wilmot said.

In November of last year, the Chief Patrol Agent of the Yuma Sector had addressed the influx in asylum seekers at the San Luis Port of Entry, the second largest port in Arizona.

“These record number of migrants has led to a humanitarian and national security crisis on the border. The resources we are devoting to the care and processing of these individuals affect our ability to carry out our law enforcement mission,” said Anthony Provaznik, Chief Patrol Agent of Yuma Sector.

Homeland security, border security, and a multitude of sheriffs have testified in Washington D.C. on what is needed at the border, according to Sheriff Wilmot.

The President has not announced what part of the Southern U.S. Mexico border he will visit.

The President is asking for nearly $6 billion for border wall funding. White House Secretary said the President will meet with those on the front lines of the national security and humanitarian crisis.