Author Topic: Texas Border Sheriffs: There is No Crisis and We Don’t Want Trump’s Wall  (Read 1115 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Online Elderberry

  • TBR Contributor
  • *****
  • Posts: 24,279
Texas Observer by Kate Groetzinger 1/24/2019

Despite Trump’s attempt to paint the Texas-Mexico border as a war zone, border counties are safer than the president’s own backyard. And local lawmen don’t believe a wall will do any good.

President Trump visited McAllen earlier this month to drum up support for spending $5.7 billion to build more border wall segments on the U.S.-Mexico border. He staged a press conference surrounded by piles of confiscated drugs, guns and cash, describing the situation at the border as “a national emergency.” With the government partially shut down over Trump’s funding dispute with Congress, the president is trying to prove that there’s a new, growing “crisis” on the border to pressure Democrats to cave. But law enforcement leaders in at least two border counties, including the sheriff who patrols McAllen, say the picture Trump is painting of the Texas borderlands is inaccurate.

Hidalgo County Sheriff J.E. “Eddie” Guerra, who is in charge of policing the largest and most populous county in the Rio Grande Valley, said that crime rates in his county are at record lows, and that illegal immigration has very little effect on the safety of residents. Meanwhile, Brewster County Sheriff Ronny Dodson, who is responsible for policing the largest county in Texas, said he doesn’t support the construction of a wall along any part of the 192-mile stretch of border in Brewster County, which includes Big Bend National Park.

“Because we’re on the border, the perception is that there’s murders every day and there’s shootings every day. Yet here in our county, we don’t have that going on. It’s very, very safe,” Guerra told the Observer.

But don’t take the sheriffs’ word for it. In 2017 (the latest year for which data is available), there were 4.4 murders per 100,000 people in Hidalgo County — about half the rate of other metro areas in Texas and a quarter of the murder rate in Washington, D.C. It’s also lower than the 6.3 murders per 100,000 people in 2017 in Palm Beach County, Florida, where Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort is located.

In addition to fewer murders, the violent crime and property crime rates in Hidalgo County are less than half of what they were in 1999. Guerra, a Democrat who has lived in the RGV his entire life, said the majority of immigrants entering the county without papers are Central American asylum-seekers fleeing violence and poverty who turn themselves over to Border Patrol agents as soon as they can.

“They’re averaging, here in the Rio Grande Valley sector, about 600 apprehensions a day. Most are family units. These family units and unaccompanied children pose exactly zero security threat in the county,” Guerra said.

Guerra’s observations are reflected in Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data: Since September, families and unaccompanied children have made up more than half of Border Patrol apprehensions. And apprehensions across the entire U.S.-Mexico border are down significantly over the last 20 years, with the number of migrants apprehended in the Rio Grande Valley falling by 44 percent from 1997 to 2017.

More: https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-border-sheriffs-there-is-no-crisis-and-we-dont-want-trumps-wall/

Online Elderberry

  • TBR Contributor
  • *****
  • Posts: 24,279
Trump Laid Out Evidence That a Wall Is Needed. We Took a Hard Look.

President Trump said a border wall is needed to block illegal guns, drugs and cash coming from Mexico. But much of the contraband he pointed to came through legal ports of entry.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/25/us/border-wall-mexico-usa-contraband.html

Offline Sanguine

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 35,986
  • Gender: Female
  • Ex-member
TWO sheriffs.  Not Texas Border Sheriffs in general.

And, remember Hidalgo Co. is deep blue.
« Last Edit: January 30, 2019, 10:12:38 pm by Sanguine »

Offline thackney

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 12,267
  • Gender: Male
TWO sheriffs.  Not Texas Border Sheriffs in general.

http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/2019/01/11/sheriffs-coalition-releases-statement-about-border-security-immigration/

...The Southwestern Border Sheriff’s Coalition released the following statement about border security and immigration.

The SBSC consists of 31 Border Sheriffs and counties from Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas....

...There are many places where physical barriers make sense and are in fact the best solution to securing the border. They should be constructed without delay. In other locations, we need to turn to technology, which thanks to modern advances is robust and effective. In other areas, we need more human resources to ensure security. Likely, in all locations we will need some blend of physical barriers, technology and human resources to be successful. The ultimate goal of these efforts should be the complete and total operational security of our southern border....

- - - - - - - - - - - -

https://www.wdsu.com/article/enough-is-enough-sheriffs-group-seeks-public-support-to-build-border-wall/23067085

Flanked by nearly 50 sheriffs from 35 states, a Massachusetts sheriff last week at the White House called for a crowdfunding website to help fund construction of a wall at the U.S./Mexico border.

“If Congress isn’t going to do it, the sheriffs of this nation are going to do it,” Bristol County Sheriff Thomas M. Hodgson told The Standard-Times. “We’re going to do our best to keep this nation safe.”...

- - - - - - - - - -

https://www.localdvm.com/news/i-270/local-sheriff-signs-letter-with-380-sheriffs-urging-congress-to-fund-border-wall/1119700828

The National Sheriffs' Association signed a letter urging Congress to act on funding the border wall....

...n the letter, dating to March 2018, it states, "I stand firm with my fellow sheriffs throughout our nation to have our borders secured first, in full cooperation and support of our promise and mission to uphold and enforce our nations laws, and we expect nothing less from congress."...

...Out of 380 signatures, Sheriff Chuck Jenkins was the only sheriff in the state of Maryland to sign the letter to Congress....
« Last Edit: January 30, 2019, 10:04:54 pm by thackney »
Life is fragile, handle with prayer

Online Elderberry

  • TBR Contributor
  • *****
  • Posts: 24,279
Quote
Leaders of the vocal Southwestern Border Sheriffs’ Coalition, whose jurisdictions span four states, said the Trump administration has failed to consider complex economic, environmental and cultural conditions inherent to the border that make such a massive undertaking “impractical.’’

“The wall is not the answer,’’ said Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez, the coalition’s president whose own Texas county includes 84 miles of border with Mexico.

Offline thackney

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 12,267
  • Gender: Male
Leaders of the vocal Southwestern Border Sheriffs’ Coalition...

That seems to contradict the letter they released two weeks ago linked above.  The wall is not the only answer, but it is part of the answer.
Life is fragile, handle with prayer

Online Bigun

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 51,331
  • Gender: Male
  • Resistance to Tyrants is Obedience to God
    • The FairTax Plan
Wonder how many of those sheriffs are dyed in the wool life long democrats and how many of them have deals with the various cartels operating in their territory(s)?
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.

"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
- J. R. R. Tolkien

Offline sneakypete

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 52,855
  • Twitter is for Twits
Wonder how many of those sheriffs are dyed in the wool life long democrats and how many of them have deals with the various cartels operating in their territory(s)?

@Bigun

I dunno,but I would be willing to bet the ones with non-Mexican/Spanish names are afraid of losing their jobs unless they suck up to illegals.
Anyone who isn't paranoid in 2021 just isn't thinking clearly!

Offline IsailedawayfromFR

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 18,746
TWO sheriffs.  Not Texas Border Sheriffs in general.

And, remember Hidalgo Co. is deep blue.
found an article on one of them Dodson which details the problems he has with drug-running from Mexico.  https://www.mrt.com/news/article/SMALL-TOWNS-BIG-PROBLEMS-Brewster-County-7543854.php

He is obviously a failure after these 12 years since the article was written as drug running has worsened, not decreased.  So his comment here needs to be discarded.

and the other guy graduated from Texas A&M.  Nuff said.
No punishment, in my opinion, is too great, for the man who can build his greatness upon his country's ruin~  George Washington

Offline Frank Cannon

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 26,097
  • Gender: Male
Don't panic @Elderberry you will have another shot to vote for Hitlary in 2020 just like you and your pal Communist activist Eddie Guerra did in 2016....


Sorry...

Offline GrouchoTex

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 7,382
  • Gender: Male
Isn't there some fencing in Hidalgo County already?

Offline Sanguine

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 35,986
  • Gender: Female
  • Ex-member
Isn't there some fencing in Hidalgo County already?

Yes, there is.

Offline GrouchoTex

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 7,382
  • Gender: Male
Yes, there is.
That makes his job easier and keeps the crime down, but as a democrat, he spins it as if that's not one of the reasons.