A superb report on what can be done about illegal immigration

Kudos to the Epoch Times for sending Charlotte Cuthbertson down to Yuma, Arizona to talk with Sheriff Leon Wilmot to learn firsthand what Sheriff deputies have to deal with and find out how much a border wall has helped to alleviate crime in the area.

In 2005 and 2006, before the border fence, most of the crime in the community was committed by illegal aliens, drug traffickers, and human smugglers, said Bratcher. Now, the majority of crime the sheriff’s department deals with is caused by local drug addicts trying to support their habits.

“The methamphetamine addicts and those types probably commit 80 to 90 percent of the property crimes, the burglaries, the thefts, that kind of stuff,” Bratcher said. “So there is a tie when you consider that it’s the drug problem causing the crime problem—where are the drugs coming from? Mexico.”

Wilmot said he has noticed a transition away from marijuana being trafficked into the United States since some states legalized it. Mexico is instead increasing its poppy cultivation to make heroin.

“Unfortunately, we’re starting to see an uptick in the meth and the cocaine and the heroin that has been coming across the border. We’re seeing the OxyContin right now. Fentanyl is a big one,” he said.

“Now, one of the battles that we are seeing, is the cartels are trying to get juveniles to smuggle that stuff across the border.”

Right along the border, thousands of American citizen children live in Mexico, but cross the border to attend school everyday.

“They’re trying to exploit these kids, thinking they won’t get charged,” Wilmot said.

The sheriff’s department has partnered with Border Patrol to conduct an education program in local schools to deter children from becoming drug traffickers.

Read more here.