(NewsNation) — More than 926 border-related arrests have been made in Cochise County since January.
It was statistics like these that led to the creation of the Border Interdiction Unit for Cochise County Sheriff’s Office. Based on local news station KOLDThis unit was started in 2010 to disrupt criminal activity in the border area affecting the residents of Cochise County.
The team made nearly 18 arrests in eight days. NewsNation’s Ali Bradley was able to go with them, and he watched as the sheriff and the rest of the team stopped several times on suspicion of smuggling.
Sheriff Mark Daniels said teams were monitoring who and what came across the border through covert operations.
Some of the signs of smugglers, he said, that the team was looking for were speeding drivers, or temporary signs.
“We actually have vehicles, eyes and ears at the border,” said Daniels.
If the smugglers could get through Cochise County, Dannels said, the chances of them being caught would be reduced.
“It’s a game of greed. … It’s all about how much money you can make here with an insecure border – that’s what we talk about here every day,” he said.
Daniels said his department had met 400 victims of border-related crimes since January. That includes examples such as if a civilian is run over by an smuggler during a chase, or if a person is in danger of being placed in the trunk of a car while evading law enforcement.
Cochise County officials are not alone in feeling trouble at the border. NewsNation has previously reported officials’ concerns about what they are saying record number of migrant encounters on the southern border this year. Immigration and border security are also political issues for both parties. especially in the middle of the midterm elections.
To fix this, Andrew Seeley, president of the Migration Policy Institute think tanksaid more legal channels for people to enter, especially from Central America, were needed.
“We need an asylum system that works across the border so we can make decisions about who needs protection and needs to enter, and who can be repatriated,” he told NewsNation’s “Morning in America.” “We also need to work with these countries to make sure that people stay. There are countries that have people leaving because things are getting quite extreme.”