Texas Ranchers, Law Enforcement, and State Officials Share the Truth on Mayorkas’ Border Crisis With Homeland Security Republicans

PHARR, TX – This week, House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark E. Green, MD (R-TN) led a listening session with Members in Pharr, Texas, featuring local ranchers, sheriffs, state law enforcement officials, a Task Force Commander from the local High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program, and the families of U.S. Border Patrol agents. At the roundtable, the Members heard firsthand accounts of the conditions on the frontlines of the unprecedented border crisis caused by Secretary Mayorkas’ refusal to enforce our nation’s laws.

MAYORKAS TURNED HIS BACK ON OUR BORDER PATROL: According to the wife of a longtime U.S. Border Patrol agent, the Biden and Mayorkas Border Crisis is taking a toll on their family and other families in the community—and it’s all because of their policies:

“Our first year of this administration was the worst year that we have ever had […] everything is being swept under the rug.”

 

“The first year that our men and women spent with this administration created so much PTSD, so much trauma, so much anxiety, so much depression, so much that us at home weren’t trained to handle.”

 

“Nobody gave us the heads up. [The Biden administration] knew what was going to happen, they already had their plans.”

 

“Policy is what we don’t see. That’s the anger and frustration that our agents carry every day.”

A South Texas Sheriff put the cause of this crisis at the feet of President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas:

“The Administration’s policies are tying the hands of the actual CBP, Border Patrol, FBI, DEA—they’re tying their hands. They know how to work. Let them work.”

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CARTELS HAVE OPERATIONAL CONTROL OF THE BORDER: According to a Texas Sheriff, Mexico, like Secretary Mayorkas, claims that their border secure:

“They lied to us, they don’t care. The cartels run all that stuff.”

A Southwest Texas Sheriff shared the toll this crisis takes on his officers, who are pursuing illegal migrants that have evaded apprehension between Ports of Entry: 

“The reason I am here today is we have got a problem […] We catch what gets missed.” 

“We have had a lot of pursuits—six last week. Very dangerous pursuits. We have lost a few of the suspects due to wrecks. […] We’ve been chasing these guys for nearly two years. […] They try to run my officers off the roads.” 

A West Texas Sheriff, who is almost 100 miles from the border, discussed the weapons and illicit drugs smuggled by the cartels that are reaching across the entire state—and further:

“Last week, we did conduct two different operations. […] that was over 64 grams of fentanyl and a rifle and two handguns. That’s on a continuous basis. Those individuals that were contacted on those operations were directly related to the cartel.”

 

“As far north as we are from the border—the cartels are here. They’re everywhere.”

Another Sheriff described how cartels are ramping up human smuggling in the absence of consequences by this administration:

“One of my deputies stopped a car loaded with three Chinese immigrants, one of which was a High Value Target.” 

 

“We have had two confirmed cartel members. […] There was a guy beating on the back of the trunk. He was taken from Eagle Pass and was in that trunk for three days. […] That young man was headed to a stash house.”

 

“We’ve gotten unaccompanied minors, 13 or 14-year-old girls.”

 

“Anything that’s illegal, the cartels have their finger in it. […] The President needs to leave the [border patrol] alone and let them enforce the rules that are already on the books.”

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AMERICA’S OVERDOSE EPIDEMIC STARTS AT THE SOUTHWEST BORDER—BUT DOESN’T END THERE: According to the Commander of the local High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program, who is focused on combating drug smuggling and trafficking, the South Texas community is facing increased overdoses due to the drugs smuggled across our southwest border, including cocaine, amphetamines, and large amounts of fentanyl-laced pills:

“The youngest that we’ve had of an overdose was a fifth grader at one of our local schools […] Students are passing out in the restrooms.”

A West Texas Sheriff detailed how his area has become a hub for drugs as they are smuggled across our southern border and make their way throughout the entire state:

“Fentanyl does not discriminate. It doesn’t care if you’re White, Black, Hispanic, Republican or Democrat—it’s going to kill you. Two kids last week in Odessa Texas, just our agency had to deal with because they overdosed on fentanyl.”

 

“We aren’t even field testing our drugs anymore because it’s so dangerous […] Just two milligrams of this stuff can kill you.”

A South Texas Sheriff shared that he has opened his own morgue due to the rise in overdose deaths:

“We have one of the busiest checkpoints in the southwest corridor. […] A lot of narcotics are coming through between the Ports of Entry, and I know that because I’ve done operations for 18 years. [..] You can’t put a metric on that.” 

“People are dying. […] This administration, the fact is that they are lying, and people are believing it.”

He also touched on how the cartels move drugs between Ports of Entry:

“They are having over 1,000 of these drones that come back and forth from Mexico to the United States. They are utilizing that to drop the fentanyl and cocaine. They have infrared so they know where the agents are.”

 

“We need to have this border secure; we need to have men on the ground, they need the technology to offset this.”

The brother of a Border Patrol agent touched on how cartels are moving drugs into our country:

“The youngest they have caught has been 13 years old to 17 years old. They are being recruited by the cartels, they have drugs on their bodies.”

 

“All the pills that you can think of are at the schools. Kids are overdosing. […] In a period of one month, a Texas school had 28 cases of overdose symptoms.”

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RANCHERS AND FARMERS ARE PAYING THE COSTS: A South Texas Sheriff described the amount of deceased migrants found on Americans’ property in the midst of the cartel’s brutality, which has been incentivized by the lack of consequences enforced by this administration:

“They are trying to circumvent the checkpoints. […] It’s a hot area for stash houses. By them walking, if they get hurt or ill they get left behind. There is a timeline here that these coyotes are trying to move these people through the brushland.”

 

“When [migrants] are alive they belong to the border patrol. When they die, they belong to the communities.”

A South Texas rancher described the encounters of illegal migrants on properties and the costs they pay from damage caused by Mayorkas’ border crisis:

“They have been broken into, they steal food. It’s affected the way of life of ranchers and farmers. A lot of them, the employees and the ranchers and farmers themselves no longer live on the property.”

 

“Vehicles are now being used as a weapon against landowners and law enforcement—deadly weapons when the smugglers are driving.”

 

“It depends on the region, for one family, they had over $200,000.”

 

“It’s the state and local law enforcement that’s helping the landowners, because the federal law enforcement has their hands tied.”

She also described the policy choices made by the Biden administration that have caused an influx:

“[The Biden administration] has NGOs and immigration attorneys running his border security policies.”