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Southern border leaders tell Fox News Digital that despite rumors of a sudden rush, the number of illegal immigration is down and their communities are beginning to regain a sense of “normalcy” before Second inauguration of President-elect Trump this month
Sheriff Brad Coe of Kinney County, Texas, whose community lies between Eagle Pass and Del Rio, told Fox News Digital that “the pendulum has swung from total chaos and back to where it’s calmer and everyone’s a little more relaxed.”
Illegal border crossings in the Coe area skyrocketed during the Biden administration, reaching 480,000 by 2022. The town of Eagle Pass, which has a population of about 28,000, became the center of one legal battle between Texas Governor Greg Abbott and federal authorities as the state sought to crack down on record-level border crossings.
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Immigrants wait to be processed at a US Border Patrol transit center on December 20, 2023 in Eagle Pass, Texas. (John Moore/Getty Images)
under the The Biden administration’s lax border policiesCoe said people in his county had to deal with huge financial losses and a constant sense of danger and uncertainty. He also said there was a dramatic increase in dangerous police pursuits in his county.
“In a career, a law enforcement officer might have 10 or 15 good actions after a 25- or 30-year career. (In) 2023, one of my deputies was involved in 54 actions in one year,” he said “That same year we did 255 activities. So it’s gone from one or two activities a year to 250 a year… So yeah, it was total chaos.”
But now, with Trump returning to power on Jan. 20, Coe said he’s “very optimistic” about the future.
Why the optimism? Coe said, “It’s the change of attitude coming from the administration, plus the change of attitude of the American people because they’re tired (of the border crisis).”
Former President Trump attends a briefing with state officials and law enforcement before walking the US-Mexico border wall on June 30, 2021 in Weslaco, Texas. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via AP, Pool)
He believes the Trump administration will listen to border communities and allow Customs and Border Protection authorities to do their jobs.
“One of the things they need to do is A, get in touch with the border sheriffs, the border police chiefs and all the members of the border communities to find out what’s going on, keep an eye on it,” he said . “But what the federal government needs to do (also) is let Border Patrol agents and ICE agents do their jobs. Don’t police them and say we’re just going to take these people in, we’re just going to deport them. these people, give them the full range of authority they have and let them run with it.”
“The president-elect is taking a very serious position on this,” he said, adding that he “has the right people in the right place to handle this” and the effect is already being felt in his community.
“You can see it in the people of the city, you see it among the deputies, the staff who work in the county, etcetera, etcetera. It’s good, we’re finally back where we can relax”, he explained. . “We don’t have to bring our kids every time we hear sirens and gather the kids when we hear the helicopters go by. We’ve got some kind of normalcy back.”
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Former President Trump speaks with Governor Greg Abbott during a visit to Eagle Pass, Texas on February 29, 2024. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away, Mayor Douglas Nicholls of Yuma, a city of just under 101,000 on the Arizona-Mexico border, told Fox News Digital that things are also getting back to normal.
Like the Del Rio sector, Yuma also saw a historic increase in illegal immigration under the Biden administrationwith more than 310,000 crossings in 2022, triple the city’s population. Now, Nicholls said the number of migrants found in the Yuma area has dropped to about 50 per day, which he said is fully contained by the Border Patrol.
Nicholls said he’s optimistic his city will receive at least the same level of support from the new administration as it did during Trump’s first term.
“Within two weeks (of Trump’s first term), the president invited me to the White House. We sat down in the Oval Office with the (Homeland Security) secretary and the three of us had a conversation for about half an hour .We came out of that meeting with resources, and weeks later we had the “Let’s go to Mexico” program that dramatically changed the nature of border crossings,” Nicholls said, adding that “essentially in about 3 to 5 months… the situation I was worried about pretty much calmed down.”
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A Border Patrol agent walks along the U.S.-Mexico border wall in Yuma, Arizona, on June 1, 2022. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
“So I really anticipate the same level of engagement,” he explained, adding that he will soon reach out and “test the waters” to make sure Yuma has strong communication with the president and his staff.
“The Yuma area is a vibrant, growing community. It has great partnerships across the border, across the nation, around the world, and those things we really focus on are, the opportunities for growth, the ability to bring our community to the next level, provide more opportunities for our residents and have this stronger and more thriving economic environment.”
Back in Del Rio, Police Chief Frank Ramirez told Fox News Digital he’s also “definitely hopeful.”
He said that while the current level of illegal immigration “isn’t as bad as it has been in the past”, the city’s police continue to deal with a considerable amount of human trafficking and cartel activities. This continues to strain the resources and officers of the Del Rio Police Department.
Migrants camp under the International Bridge in Del Rio, Texas, in September. (Rep. August Pfluger)
He said Del Rio officers are honored to be the “first line of defense,” helping prevent criminal illegal immigrants from further entering the country.
“If we can get someone who doesn’t need to be in the rest of the states here, it’s a double win, and it’s something we take very seriously here and like to do,” he said.
However, because of those difficulties and the fact that Del Rio is a smaller city that can’t compete with salaries in larger cities, Ramirez said his department is struggling with recruitment and retention. He said that in addition to closing the border, communities like his need additional federal funding to compensate officers who do double duty fighting both regular crime and illegal immigrant crime.
“It has made it a little difficult for us because we are still trying to deal with the usual problems of the city and, in addition, to deal with immigration problems”, he explained. “Every day you’re rolling the dice. Who passes? Who got it? Will they come to our town first? And what are they looking for? Are they coming to do something to someone? Take something from someone or are they. just passing through?”
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Del Rio, Texas Police Chief Frank Ramirez (Fox News)
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“So the key thing that we really need and what we’re looking at is with the grants that would give us salary assistance, something like that would really help the border towns so that we could be competitive with some of the larger agencies and be able to retain and keep some of the ‘these officers here,’ he said.
“This city is great. There are great people, and I mean it when I say it,” he continued. “So wanting to keep the city safe is very important to me. It’s a personal thing.”
“Any help we can get would be appreciated by any administration. I don’t know what the plans are, but (we’re) definitely hopeful and hoping for maybe a little more support,” he concluded with a smile.
