COLUMN: Sheriff’s Roundup – Borderline

This column was contributed by San Benito County Sheriff Eric Taylor. The opinions expressed do not necessarily represent BenitoLink or other affiliated contributors. BenitoLink invites all community members to share their ideas and opinions. By registering as a BenitoLink user in the top right corner of our home page and agreeing to follow our Terms of Use, you can write counter opinions or share your insights on current issues. Lea este articulo en español aqui. 

I recently traveled to the San Ysidro Border Crossing, along with 27 other sheriffs and a few police chiefs. This trip was a three-day trip which included two days of classroom instruction and one day visiting the border walls and the border detention facilities. The first two days covered topics of drug trafficking, human trafficking, terrorism, and other customs and border protection policies.

One of the first statistics shared with us was the actual makeup of people crossing the border in the San Diego/Imperial Area of Responsibility (AOR). This AOR spans from the coastline of San Diego, east through Imperial County, to the California border. Less than five percent of people illegally crossing our border sector are Mexican Nationals. In fact, at the time of our meeting, they estimated two to three percent of all people crossing the border were Mexican Nationals who are said to be looking for a better life.

Ninety-nine percent of all Chinese Nationals entering this country illegally are coming through the San Diego/Imperial AOR. There is also a large contingent of people from West Africa and the Middle East, with most being single males. By the time they arrive to the southern border, they have invested between $100,000 and $200,000 to get here. Every single person pays a hefty price to the cartels, which is funding human and drug trafficking. We spent time with a human trafficking survivor, and she explained the atrocities that occur. It was difficult to hear that the cartels are more interested in human sex-trafficking than drug trafficking because a human being is a commodity that can be “sold over and over again.” What a disgusting and tragic business model. Furthermore, it is estimated that 66 percent of the drugs smuggled into the United States come through the San Ysidro border point of entry, as does 77 percent of human smuggling.

In the San Diego/Imperial AOR, Customs and Border Protection has done a great job in detaining and identifying the people who actually present themselves at the border. However, identifying means they merely take whatever name is given to them–there is no documentation required. Once detained, they are taken to a facility for processing. They remain there for 24-36 hours where they are released with a cell phone and a court date. One court date that had been given the day prior was nine years away, with the average court date being five to ten years out. An agent, whose husband also works for CBP on a special unit, said, “Do you know how many things a person can do in nine years?”

At the San Diego/Imperial AOR, the staff pride themselves in being able to capture biometrics from nearly every detainee. They said that is not the same at other border AORs. One of the agents said, “You all remember the thousands of migrants under the bridge in Eagle Pass? None of them were identified. There wasn’t enough staff. They just let them walk away.” This was in reference to the over 4,000 migrants that had amassed under the bridge during a time where Eagle Pass saw 25,000 migrants in a very short period. 

For the entirety of the United States, the Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) team estimates 6,124,178 migrants were not held or detained as of the date of my training class. Of those, 412,981 had significant criminal convictions, and 195,872 people were pending significant criminal charges.

As for ERO San Diego (and Imperial), they were aware of 27,656 migrants with significant criminal convictions in the southern region. Of those, only 1,200 were actively being monitored. There were another 83,494 “people of concern” not being monitored. For the Northern California ERO, there are 233,152 migrants with significant cases pending and in Central California ERO (San Benito is in this ERO) there are 383,395 migrants with significant cases pending. As of the training date, our country had taken 70 national security threats into custody.

Recently, I was at a State Sheriff’s meeting in Shell Beach where Customs and Border Protection (CBP) spoke of an uptick in southwest border crossings due to the crackdown in Texas. Currently, the San Diego/Imperial ERO is releasing 900-1,000 migrants each day into San Diego. Recently, they have identified and detained 37 more national security threats. The increase has resulted in 240,000-301,000 crossings on the San Diego/Imperial AOR each month, for the last few months. These figures do not include the “got-aways” (people who have evaded capture).

My purpose for writing this is solely to get the information out as to the potential threats to our communities. I do not believe that everyone crossing the border want to do us harm; many are looking for a better life for themselves and their families. However, from a public safety perspective, I must note only 19 terrorists pulled off the attacks on 9/11. Even if 99.9 percent of the people entering in this manner have good intentions, that .1 percent is enough for a repeat of the horrors we witnessed in New York, DC, and Pennsylvania. Just .1 percent of the estimated two million “got-aways” is 2,000 people. And .1 percent of the 6.1 million people not detained is 6,100 which would make a .1 percent chance of someone being a “bad actor” equal 8,100 possible people.

We need everyone in our local, state, and federal government to do something. It is not a left or right issue, it’s a public safety issue. Many people failed to act prior to 9/11, and Pearl Harbor, based on the information and intelligence we have now. When another terrorist attack occurs, and my children ask me if we should have known something was going to happen, I will say “Yes, and I spoke out.” Let’s hope more people listen.