Illegal aliens arriving at the United States-Mexico border are openly admitting that they are coming to the U.S. “because of President Biden,” whom they see as welcoming them into the country, Cochise County, Arizona, Sheriff Mark Dannels says.
During a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, Dannels testified that illegal aliens actually tell his officers why they are coming to the U.S. Biden, Dannels said, is overwhelmingly their answer. Dannels said:
The majority of people — we have an interdiction team that goes out daily — yesterday, they were out for their shift and had 15 smuggling events … the majority of people we talk to, the majority of migrants that have been smuggled, which I call modern-day slavery what they’re doing to these people, they tell us the reason they’re here is because of President Biden and [give] a welcoming sign.
The record-breaking illegal immigration levels seen by Dannel’s small border community are compounded by Biden’s insistence to hugely expand the administration’s Catch and Release network that has helped get nearly two million border crossers released into the U.S. interior since February 2021.
“Currently, this is the ugliest I’ve experienced,” Dannels said, referencing the state of the southern border.
In particular, Dannels said his community is having to pay millions in annual detention costs to hold human smugglers captured by his officers.
Over two years ago, my county was one of the safest border counties based on our collective government efforts.
“Border-related bookings, detention costs counting the year 2022 was $4.3 million, absorbed by my local and state taxpayers … in a rural community, that’s a huge impact,” Dannels said.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.