Sheriff Wilmot speaks about border
YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - Our exclusive conversation with Yuma County Sheriff, Leon Wilmot, continues tonight.
He talked about issues he has witnessed along the southern border.
The Yuma border has been heavily overwhelmed by undocumented immigrants for more than a year now.
Since October according to the most recent customs and border protection numbers, the Yuma Sector has had close to 150,000 apprehensions, an increase of almost 600 percent compared to this same time last year.
Sheriff Wilmot says the Yuma sector covers Baja California, as well as Sonora.
“Every mile of the international boundary is controlled by a cartel group, so they say what crosses, where it crosses and at what time,” said Wilmot.
He believes cartels are behind getting migrants to the border.
“Each of these individuals is paying the cartel at least 6,000 dollars a person to be able to cross in that location,” said Wilmot.
He says if they cannot afford it, the migrant has to work for the cartel to pay back their debt.
Saying this is what’s happening every day along the border, with roughly one-thousand apprehensions per day in Yuma.
“I’ve been here 37 years. I’ve seen different administrations, I’ve seen the levels of support, and enforcing the rule of law and not enforcing the rule of law and the unfortunate impacts also go onto the local communities because of it,” said Wilmot.
While Sheriff Wilmot waits for the federal government to take action, last week he was in Phoenix, where he supported the governor in signing a bill which aims to crack down on those who participate in human smuggling.
