The Yuma County Sheriff blames the Biden administration for the influx of migrants to the border

The number of families, unaccompanied children, and single adults detained by the U.S. Border Patrol continues to increase along the southwest border.

Yuma County Sheriff Leon Wilmot said the numbers are overwhelming local border officials and affecting the community and its proxies.

Sheriff Wilmot tells KAWC Kim Johnson that he is putting the blame on the Biden Administration.

“We not only have a crisis, it is also catastrophic in nature,” said Sheriff Wilmot. And he says it started when Biden signed executive orders in February, undoing Trump-era politics on the border.

As a result, it has had a significant impact on the resources and performance of border guards, Wilmot said. “You [ Yuma Sector Border Patrol] had over 250 unaccompanied youths only in the Yuma sector. ”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the agency that deals with illegal arrests at the border. Sheriff Wilmot said, however, that the Biden administration “watered down” the authority and transferred responsibilities to the border police.

“What needs to be understood is that the only function of Border Patrol is border security,” said Wilmot.

He also explains how the ICE thinning has encouraged drug cartels.

“That opens up the cartel’s window of opportunity elsewhere on the

Limit to heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and,

obviously the fentanyl, “he said.

Sheriff Wilmot says the Southwest Border Sheriffs have asked to work with the Biden Administration on a resolution to what is going on at the border. The sheriff is still waiting for a response from the administration.