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Sheriffs with 2 Arizona border counties say there is no crisis at the US-Mexico Border

By
Published  April 29, 2021 6:28pm MST
U.S. Border Security
FOX 10 Phoenix

Some border county sheriffs say there’s no crisis at the border

As politicians from both sides of the aisle claim there's a crisis at the border, sheriffs with two border counties in Arizona say they disagree with that assessment.

PHOENIX - Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, along with several Republican leaders, are calling the situation at the U.S.-Mexico Border a 'crisis.'

On the Democratic side, President Joe Biden has used the word 'crisis' recently, and both U.S. Senators from Arizona have asked for more National Guard along the border.

Related: Arizona Governor deploys National Guard to US-Mexico border

However, sheriffs with two border counties in Arizona have a very different take on current conditions.

Santa Cruz County Sheriff: It's not a crisis

"We have no migrant crisis at the border, but there’s lots of fuzzy math going around," said Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway.

Santa Cruz County, a small county south of Tucson and north of Nogales, Mexico, has the biggest ports of entry into Arizona. Immigrant arrests in the county are up from the Trump and Obama years, but the people coming here to find work, and the overall numbers are nothing new.

"1.1 million if that continues at the exact same rate this summer, which is unlikely, but there’s nothing out of the ordinary. It’s practically every year since the 80s, 90s, and 2000s," said Sheriff Hathaway.

Sheriff Hathaway says it's not an immigration crisis, but an economic one on the American side of the border.

"We have an economic crisis here because the tourist visa holders still can't come in the United States, and that's costing millions of dollars every day in lost revenue," said Sheriff Hathaway.

Pima County Sheriff says money can be better spent elsewhere

"Whether it's a crisis in their neighborhoods, I can’t speak to it, but it’s not a crisis right now for Pima County," said Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos.

Sheriff Nanos was born on the border, and has worked along it almost ever since. He says if the governor really wants to help, he should send more money for things like police reform, body cameras, and ankle monitors, rather than more National Guard troops.

"It might help those with mental illness or suffer from drug addiction rather than locking them all up in my jail. So yeah, if the governor really wants to help Pima county, send me some funding for one of those items," said Sheriff Nanos.