Thread: Arizona residents, officials tell senators Southwest border ‘is not secure’

Tuesday, March 17, 2015
By Jessica Boehm
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Local law enforcement must be involved in securing “the rural parts of the Southwest border,” which is still dangerously insecure, Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels told a Senate panel Tuesday.

“Sheriffs are a direct voice of trust in their respective counties so I think it’s important that we continue that voice with the sheriffs,” said Dannels, who told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee not to “ignore us.”

Dannels’ testimony came during a two-hour hearing that brought residents and officials from Texas and Arizona to Washington to share their “perspectives from outside the Beltway” on Southwest border security.

The committee chairman, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said it was the first in a series of hearings and roundtable discussions focused on problems along the Southwest border. Witnesses Tuesday had plenty to share.

“I want to be crystal clear: The border is not secure,” said Chris Cabrera, a Border Patrol agent who was testifying on behalf of the National Border Patrol Council.

Cabrera said some people don’t realize the extent of border issues because the Department of Homeland Security uses data that inaccurately shows that border patrol agents are “75 percent effective in apprehending illegal immigrants and drug smugglers.”

A more realistic metric is somewhere between 35 – 40 percent – and that percentage is even lower when dealing with experienced criminals in the drug cartels, he said.

Dannels said trafficking of drugs and people has “diminished the quality of life” for residents of Cochise County and placed “unbearable strain” on the county’s budget and resources.

Howard Buffett, chairman and CEO of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, owns two ranches in southern Arizona, one on the Mexico border.

“When you live or operate close to the border, it’s like living in another world,” Buffett testified.

He said that security problems along the Southwest border have created “a serious humanitarian crisis,” which has caused “people to die attempting to reach our country while putting our own citizens at risk.”

“Those who live in communities along our border assume a higher risk to their personal safety that can be frightening and at times deadly,” Buffett said.

Dannels laid the problem squarely at the feet of federal officials, whose changes to border priorities in the 1990s forced illegal activity into the rural areas along the border.

“I am not proud to say that today we are a product of the federal government’s plan,” Dannels said.

Dannels said that fear is rampant along the border – with many of his constituents afraid to leave their homes.

“It’s just a horrible way to live when we live in the United States,” he said.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said at the hearing that the border can be secured through proper use of assets, strategies and technology.

“Those who say, well you just can’t do it – they obviously are incorrect because every nation has the obligation to have a safe and secure border,” McCain said.

He pointed to his introduction Tuesday of the “Arizona Borderlands Protection and Preservation Act,” which would grant Border Patrol agents access to federal land anywhere along the Southwest border for security and surveillance activities.

Dannels had said earlier that federal efforts should focus on “border security first, immigration reform second.”

The crime associated with illegal immigration has diminished the sense of security of people in the rural Southwest, he said, pointing to a sharp decrease in the population of Cochise County.

“People are leaving our county because of the way it is,” he said. “They don’t want to live in fear.”

By bringing local stakeholders to the table, Dannels said the government will be able to create better solutions to the complex problems faced by Cochise County residents.

“Those that choose to live on our border should deserve the same freedom and liberty as those that live here in D.C., Iowa and beyond,” Dannels said.

http://cronkitenewsonline.com/2015/0...in-washington/

Pass Trey Gowdy and Marsha Blackburn's bill that authorizes states and local law enforcement to enforce US immigration law. They'll get it done.

http://dailycaller.com/2015/02/27/tr...iminal-aliens/

The text of the bill has a link in the article.

Arizona Sheriff Agrees with Top US General: Groups Like ISIS May Cross US-Mexico Border

by Edwin Mora
17 Mar 2015
Washington, DC

WASHINGTON, DC — The Sheriff of an Arizona county that shares a border with Mexico warned that terrorists could use “VIP” tunnels along the southwest border to enter the United States.

Sheriff Mark Dannels of Cochise County, Arizona testified today before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.

“We just discovered two weeks ago a tunnel in our county. This was a tunnel about two years old that I hate to use the word, but a ‘VIP’ tunnel, which means human smuggling is not coming through that tunnel,” testified Sheriff Dannels. “You’re looking at a large amount of drugs, money, and what you’re alluding to is those terrorists or those people who pay the price to come in our country and harm our citizens. I’m very concerned about that. If you can bring drugs or product through, you can bring terrorists through so it’s of great concern.”

Sheriff Dannels’ comments came in response to Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) asking him if he agreed with comments made by a top U.S. general last week regarding terrorist groups such as the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) coming across the U.S.-Mexico border.

Last week, Gen. John Kelly, the Southcom commander, warned the Senate Armed Services Committee that smuggling networks in Latin America “could unwittingly, or even wittingly, facilitate the movement of terrorist operatives or weapons of mass destruction toward our borders, potentially undetected and almost completely unrestricted.”

Sen. Ayotte asked the Cochise County sheriff if he shared Gen. Kelly’s concerns.

“I 100 percent agree with what the general is saying,” responded the sheriff, later adding, “It’s going to happen.”

The sheriff agreed that terrorists could also bring in ingredients for weapons of mass destruction across the southwest border.

Gen. Kelly told the Senate panel last week that individuals from terrorism-linked countries such as Somalia and Pakistan are already using the regions smuggling networks to cross into the United States.

“In addition to thousands of Central Americans fleeing poverty and violence, foreign nationals from countries like Somalia, Bangladesh, Lebanon, and Pakistan are using the region’s human smuggling networks to enter the United States,” testified the Southcom commander. “While many are merely seeking economic opportunity or fleeing war, a small subset could potentially be seeking to do us harm.”

“Last year, ISIS adherents posted discussions on social media calling for the infiltration of the U.S. southern border,” he noted. “Thankfully, we have not yet seen evidence of this occurring, but I am deeply concerned that smuggling networks are a vulnerability that terrorists could seek to exploit.”

Gen. Kelly also expressed concerns about the presence of Iran and the Iranian-backed Lebanese terror group Hezbollah in the Latin America region.

He also warned that “Sunni extremists, while small in number, are actively involved in the radicalization of converts and other Muslims in the region and also provide financial and logistical support to designated terrorist organizations within and outside Latin America.”

The Islamic State is a Sunni group. Breitbart Texas warned that ISIS could use the Texas-Mexico border to enter the U.S.

U.S. Border Patrol Agent Chris Cabrera, who testified alongside Sheriff Dannels, indicated that nearly 6 out of every 10 illegal aliens who attempt to cross the southern border are not apprehended.

Breitbart News reported that at least 474 illegal aliens from terrorism-linked countries were apprehended in 2014 alone.

http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2015/...mexico-border/