Republican Mark Ronchetti, running to replace New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D), vows to create a “Border Enforcement Force” that would deploy agents to the southern border to dismantle illegal immigration and drug trafficking.
During an exclusive interview with SiriusXM Patriot’s Breitbart News Saturday, Ronchetti detailed his plans to defy the Biden administration’s mass migration policies by establishing a law enforcement unit dedicated to the border.
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“We have to temporarily return the National Guard to the border to help the Border Patrol because they just don’t have the staff they need to secure the border,” Ronchetti said.
“Beyond that, what we’re proposing here is to start with a Border Enforcement Force — about 150 agents under the Department of Public Safety here in New Mexico,” he continued. “And their job is going to be two-fold, it’s going to be to go after the fentanyl and to go after the human trafficking which drives most of our violent crime.”
Ronchetti said the Border Enforcement Force would “set up drug interdiction stops with K9 units” along the border. He also said tougher criminal penalties for drug traffickers is part of his larger public safety plan.
“We have an obligation, working with Arizona and Texas, to begin to shut this down,” Ronchetti said. “We also have to have tougher penalties for fentanyl, especially fentanyl dealing, and we have to go after the cartels in the United States because if you think they’re only on the other side of the border, you’re kidding yourself.”
In recent instances, Ronchetti said he spoke with New Mexicans who live along the border where they detailed how the current record-breaking illegal immigration levels under the Biden administration have put their families and communities in grave danger almost daily.
“Talking to people here who live along the border, whether it be ranchers or just families in general and they talk about what’s happening to them on a daily basis and the fact that the Biden administration has abdicated their responsibility along the border,” Ronchetti said.
“We’re 600 border agents short in New Mexico and in the El Paso sector of the border here. There is no help for these people and their families. Literally, people are coming in every day, going up to their houses, looking in their windows, trying to get in their doors,” he continued. “It’s a brutal scenario where they feel like nobody is helping and nobody is listening.”
Since March, federal immigration officials have apprehended more than 633,000 border crossers and illegal aliens along the U.S.-Mexico border. In May, alone, more than 220,000 border crossers and illegal aliens were apprehended. This figure does not include the tens of thousands who successfully illegally entered the United States undetected.
The New Mexico gubernatorial election will take place November 8.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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