An Arizona sheriff warned on Monday that President Biden’s executive orders on immigration are “hasty” and encouraged the president to “stop this madness”.
Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels also told Fox & Friends on Monday that the “political theater that is taking place is scary for all of us on the southwestern border, sheriffs, police departments and our federal partners and all American should stand up against this. ”
Dannels pointed to statistics for 2019, noting that more than 1,000 gang members representing more than a dozen countries violated the southwest border that year. He added that thousands of children are being exploited by the cartels as fraud and that there have been hundreds of assaults on federal agents.
“It goes back to showing you how vulnerable our southwestern border is to include all Americans in this country if we don’t have a secure border,” said Dannels.
In his first week in office, President Biden signed a series of executive orders, including the government’s 100-day moratorium on deportations. Before Biden’s inauguration, a large caravan of migrants was heading for America’s southern border.
In the week before Biden’s oath as president, two groups of more than 3,000 Honduran migrants each made their way to Guatemala without registering as part of a larger caravan bound for the United States, the Associated Press reported. A third group entered Guatemala on Saturday. The migrants hoped to reach Mexico, which is in northern Guatemala, and eventually reach the border with the United States.
A second caravan of migrants was due to leave Honduras on Monday, days after Guatemalan security forces stopped the first caravan of the year during a series of violent clashes in which asylum seekers were met with tear gas and batons, the Daily Mail reported last week.
“We have worked so well over the years and why we need a secure border is just common sense,” said Dannels.
He pointed to statistics in Cochise County, noting that the 800 cameras installed in the area showed “double” the number of illegal immigrants who entered the country since last year, when Biden became the Democratic candidate.
“One thing that bothers me as a sheriff serving 37 years on the southwest border is the fact that the lessons of the past continue to be played out in Congress, through the presidency,” added Dannels.
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He also noted that when Donald Trump was president, “We had a very positive and proactive relationship with President Trump at the table to solve the community’s problems.”
“Police chiefs and sheriffs are experts in communities. Our federal government must be experts in national and border security,” said Dannels.
“Together, this is a recipe for success for all Americans and what I see now is that we are going to go back in time and represent this political theater on the backs and risks of all Americans.”
President Biden signed 17 executive actions during his first day in office – many of which reversed Trump administration policies and directives – such as canceling funding and building the border wall.
Dannels noted on Monday that the border wall “was a positive protection for our municipality” and it is “sad” to see that progress will be halted.
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He added: “We’ve come this way before. I don’t know why we can’t look back and find balance in our processes, our programs and stop this madness.”
Brooke Singman and Tyler Olson of Fox News contributed to this report.