From The Epoch Times: "Yuma County is 5,522 square miles—larger than the state of Connecticut—and it shares 126 miles of border with Mexico. California and its Imperial Sand Dunes are just a mirage away on the western border beyond the Colorado River.
The Yuma Border Patrol Sector used to be the worst in the country for illegal crossings, until it became a poster-child for the effectiveness of a border fence."
Define 'worst.' The elderly, sick, and children left to die in the desert; gang rapes of women and girls in migrant caravans; murder; theft; drug smuggling; burglary; border agents outnumbered 50 to 1; assaulted with rocks and weapons daily...
That dramatically change with the Secure Fence Act of 2006 . 'Yea' votes in the U.S. Senate included Democrats Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein, Joe Biden, Chuck Schumer, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, et al. President G.W. Bush signed the bill into law on October 26, 2006.
In 2005, the border patrol made 138,000 apprehensions of those who tried to illegally cross the U.S. / Mexico border. After 2006, "Yuma went from having 5.2 miles of fencing to 63 miles, and subsequently saw an almost 95 percent decrease in border apprehensions by 2009, when Border Patrol made about 7,000 arrests."
Alternative headline: Border Fence Helped Cut Illegal Immigration in Yuma by almost 95 Percent
Fences work. They make good neighbors. They protect property. And criminals all agree; easier is better. The late Charles Krauthammer famously quipped, "If fences don't work, why is there one around the White House?"
So, what do politicians say about the success in Yuma County? "We simply cannot allow people to pour into the United States undetected, undocumented (and) unchecked, and circumventing the line of people who are waiting patiently, diligently and lawfully to become immigrants in this country." Dang that Trump. What a racist. He must really hate brown people. Oh. Wait. That was then-Senator Barack Obama(D) in 2006.
"People who enter the United States without our permission are illegal aliens, and illegal aliens should not be treated the same as people who entered the United States legally. Any immigration solution must recognize that we must do as much as we can to gain operational control of our borders as soon as possible." That's so Trumpian is just reeks of xenophobia and bigotry. How can we tolerate this man as our potus?? Nevermind. That was Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer(D) in 2009.
Many politicians appear to treat the brutal hazards and horrid casualties of illegal immigration as a cheap political ploy for votes. It's a shell game that's been going on for 50 years, but the Secure Fence Act of 2006 is a huge success for Yuma County. Proof of concept. 'Operational control of our borders as soon as possible' sounds like a good job for a fence. Expand it as much possible along the 2,000 mile southern border.
Yet, those who oppose the border wall / fence in Congress have shut down the federal government over Trump's request for $5 billion in border wall / fence funding (which is basically a rounding error for the four trillion dollar federal budget). Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer(D) has done a complete flip-flop from his 2009 rhetoric, and in 2018 is Trump's most vocal opponent against the border wall / fence.
Will it take more than a fence to stem the flow of illegal immigrants? Yes, of course. The article continues: "The other part, under Operation Streamline, was 100 percent prosecution of illegal border crossers. If you did try to cross and you got caught, you were held accountable. There were consequences,” (Yuma County Capt. Eben) Bratcher said. “So the combination, the fence slowed them down, but they are going to find a way over it, under it, through it, whatever. But the real issue was, when you got caught, you went to jail. It stopped."
Until it didn't. During the Obama administration, Operation Streamline was curtailed and the 100 percent prosecution policy was halted. Illegal border crossings sky rocketed, but not the arrests. “When you take away the prosecution, rather than trying to sneak through, now they just walk across and give themselves up,” concluded Bratcher.
That Obama era decision even extended to drug smugglers when Obama instructed federal prosecutors not to cooperate with local law enforcement or prosecute federal drug crimes. As a result, drug smuggling and crime increased because the Feds would seize the drugs, then release the smugglers back across the border, and that revolving door simply went around and around. This frustrated local law enforcement and outraged local tax payers who had to shoulder the additional law enforcement costs for a job the Feds wouldn't do.
In April 2018, Trump and then-AG Jeff Sessions re-instituted the 100% prosecution policy under Operation Streamline to great wailing, gnashing of teeth, law suits and bad journalism opposed to the demonstrably successful policy, pre-Obama. Illegal border crossings and crime in Yuma County are dropping, but are still higher than 2009 levels, and that is a sore spot for Yuma.
“When they put their own political agenda above the quality of life of American citizens and Yuma citizens, what is their motivation? It makes you question that,” Capt. Eben Bratcher said.
Yes. Yes, it does.
