Sheriff speaks on border crisis

Sheriff Greg Champagne speaks to anchor Stuart Varney on Fox Business.

As St. Charles Parish Sheriff Greg Champagne prepares to wrap up his second term as the president of the National Sheriffs’ Association, he does not mince words when it comes to what’s been the organization’s largest concern over his time in that office: it’s illegal immigration and that concern has only continued to rise, he says.

Recently, Champagne made an appearance on Fox Business to discuss the recent executive order issued by President Joe Biden aimed at limiting asylum requests to the U.S./Mexico border. The order states asylum requests will be shut down once a number of daily encounters rises above 2,500 between legal ports of entry. In order to reopen the border, that number would have to fall under an average of 1,500 per day for a window of seven days. The order went into effect in early June.

Champagne said on Fox that Biden’s action equates to “too little, too late,” and that the order is vague, difficult to enforce and ultimately unlikely to be effective.

On Monday, Champagne told the Herald-Guide that the border situation is presenting a serious threat and that the association’s sheriffs have been asking Biden to take action throughout the latter’s term in office.

“It’s the main issue for us … we’re getting blow by blow reports from sheriffs in Texas, sheriffs in Arizona – from the front lines – of how bad it is,” Champagne said. “We’ve begged him to do something for the past three-and-a-half years, and he said he didn’t have the authority, Congress won’t act … based upon the threat to our country, the President of the United States has always had the ability to limit immigration from any country for any reason he deems appropriate. He won’t acknowledge it.”

Champagne said the sheriffs’ association has requested to meet with Biden several times on the issue, but that that request has gone ungranted.

While Biden took action with the order he issued this month, Champagne said the order is convoluted – “and we believe that’s by design” – and not enforceable.

“We’re not optimistic there’s going to be any real change at this point,” Champagne said. “Time will tell. But we’re not optimistic.”

Speaking to Fox Business anchor Stuart Varney, Champagne said association representatives have been granted meetings with Biden advisors, but that the sheriffs have been left with the impression there is no real “inclination to really halt the wave of immigration.”

“It was explained to us that we should be thankful that we live in a time to witness the greatest migration in world history, which was kind of astounding,” Champagne told Varney. “They’re not really interested, from what we understand, in really restricting immigration. And it’s not that we’re against immigration. We’re against the side effects, the danger it presents to the country, especially from these got-aways who could be criminals, convicted individuals from other countries – we don’t know who they are, where they are or what they’re planning.

“The order is a wait-and-see. We’re certainly hopeful because the sheriffs, especially along the border, are at their wits end. But we’re not optimistic.”

The “got-aways” is a term used to describe illegal immigrants who have evaded border patrol agents.

“You have a lot of criminals, those who have been deported and would not be allowed back into our country – they’re not going to turn themselves in, because they would be detained,” Champagne told Herald-Guide. “You have gang members … even by the government’s own estimates, two million have snuck across the border, and there are many more than that.”

Champagne said there are also serious concerns that the number of unvetted people crossing the border will open the door to terrorism.

“Even the FBI director said he’s never seen so many warning flags … there are people that want to do us harm, that hate Americans,” Champagne said. “It’s not a matter of if, but when we see some massive attacks.”

 

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