New Mexico farmer Russell Johnson asked lawmakers on Saturday to “stop politicizing” the southern border and instead address the troubled US immigration system.
In an interview with Fox News’ Eric Shawn, the fourth-generation New Mexico farmer explained that border problems exceed the number of families of migrants who cross illegally, saying there is growing concern about security.
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“What people don’t realize is that we don’t have unaccompanied family units and minors approaching our border area. What we have is the criminal element we are seeing, ”said Johnson.
“The people that the Border Patrol is meeting here have gang tattoos,” he continued. “My mom found two different groups on our ranch alone [on] on horseback last week, and they were wearing camouflage. “
While Johnson’s mother escaped well, the New Mexico farmer noted that it could take up to an hour for the Border Patrol to answer his calls – a response time that worries the husband and father of the young children.
“So when I see all the news coverage, just about unaccompanied minors and family units, people are forgetting and not realizing that what we are facing in these rural areas is a criminal element,” Johnson told Fox News. “And it affects the security of not only our families, our businesses, but these things are also going further in the country.”
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Although the influx of migrants to the southern border has been a problem for decades, Congress is once again divided over how to deal with the migration crisis.
Republicans argued that the problem is a result of President Biden’s reversal of his predecessor’s strike policies.
But Biden, for his part, believes that the crisis is more deeply rooted and needs to be addressed by avoiding problems that encourage mass migration – most recently from the North Triangle, an area in Central America that encompasses Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
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“I don’t understand how the security and protection not only of us at the border, but of the nation as a whole – how can this be politicized?” he asked. “Do the right thing, finish the border wall project, which is not just the wall, it’s the sensors, the lighting, the roads, finish everything and protect the border and then reform the immigration system”.
“You know, a lot of these people just want to come here and work,” he concluded. “We are going to fix our guest work program and fix this problem.”