– Good morning guys,
here in Yuma, Arizona,
right on the border with Mexico.
And in recent times there’s
been a huge influx of migrants
coming over this border.
But what is this situation like now?
What is it compared to
other times in Yuma history?
So, today we’re gonna
meet with Sheriff Wilmot,
who’s been in office here for a decade,
who’s gonna walk us
through his perspective
and his understanding of the situation.
Let’s do this.
All right, sheriff, where are we going?
– Well, we’ll hit the remote part first
and then we’ll get back into town.
Or, we can do vice versa,
whatever you wanna do.
– Where’s the more interesting part?
– Well, it’s all interesting.
– Okay, let’s do remote.
(Sheriff laughing)
– That’s where all the people are dying.
So, Yuma County, 5,500 square miles.
I got 95 deputies that patrol all of this.
– Okay.
– 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The cartels have designated
locations along the border
they allow people to cross.
Then the cartels also
have designated areas
that they control, where
their narcotics come across.
And those that do not
want to be apprehended,
are also guided through.
Anybody that crosses the border here,
is paying anywhere from $6,000
per person up to $15,000.
It all depends on what
country you came from.
So, those that are coming
from Russia, Iran, Iraq,
Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, the Ukraine,
they’re paying more to get here.
– You’re getting migrants
from that part of the world?
– Oh yeah, 140 different countries.
You figure this last federal
fiscal year in Yuma County,
just on the river corridor,
there were over 310,000
people that were apprehended
and processed by Border Patrol Agents.
And then out in the
eastern part of my county,
in the remote desert,
there’s over 28,000 getaways
that they know of for sure.
There could be more.
That’s the impact for
Yuma sector Border Patrol,
which is either the second,
or third smallest Border
Patrol sector in the whole,
for US Border Patrol.
So, they’re running maybe 800 agents,
that had to handle over 310,000 people.
There’s the border right there.
– [Peter] Where?
Oh, the fence is up there?
– [Sheriff] Yeah.
– What I was told in South Texas,
was the fence isn’t gonna stop anyone.
32 foot fence, 33 foot
ladder, whatever, right?
But it makes it easier for
Customs and Border Protection
to deal with it because they
can set up the infrastructure
on the fence.
– [Sheriff] Right.
– You can see where people
are all pinching together
to go over whatever.
– [Sheriff] Right.
– Is that your understanding?
– It’s a deterrent.
And yes, they do use ladders,
but ergo you have cameras,
you have sensors,
it does slow down
that criminal element,
so that Border Patrol can
actually respond and get there
to be able to apprehend it.
And it keeps individuals
from impacting our farmers.
When most people hear Yuma, Arizona,
they think of desert.
What you need to understand
is Yuma County supplies
the whole of the United States,
90% of your winter leafy greens.
When you have these gaps in
the fencing that were stopped,
it’s just an open area and
it funnels the cartels…
This is one of the crossing
points, is right down here.
And there’s where it impacts our farmers,
because those individuals
were going into those fields
and defecating and the
trash was being left there.
As a farmer because of food safety,
you can’t harvest that area.
It’s now contaminated.
– [Peter] What do they do?
– They just have to plow it under.
So where we’re at here is Morelos Dam,
obviously United States.
Mexico, right across the river.
Cartels designated this as
one of the crossing points.
So, you can see where that pickup is at,
there’s a little road that goes down.
So, they get off
at the airport, Mexicali,
take their Uber, bus.
– Get get off at the airport?
– Yeah. They all fly into Mexicali.
Everybody that’s coming
here, is flying in.
– They’re not doing the long hard journey,
through the country?
– No, none of these folks are doing that.
They’re flying in.
Some of these countries…
They have to manipulate
airports according to whether,
or not that country requires a visa.
Some of the Russians were
going out through Dubai
and other countries to make
it all the way into Cabo.
Then spend a couple weeks in Cabo,
and then they would fly into Mexico City,
then into Mexicali.
So, all these different
140 plus countries,
they’re all educated enough to figure out
how to get from airport,
to airport, to airport.
– [Peter] So-
– 310,000 have crossed
this area of the river corridor from here,
between here and about eight miles.
– [Peter] You guys down here
were putting storage containers, right?
– Right, the governor…
– To block the gaps here?
– Right.
They pulled all the
containers out because,
finally this administration
has decided that,
they need to finish
this portion because of
the amount, sheer amount in volume
of people coming in here illegally.
– [Peter] So, this fence is
gonna be built here soon?
– They’re supposed to be contracted out
to put in the rest of this
gap, but not all gaps.
And I’ll show you that out.
So, they just walk off the bus,
walk down that little trail right there,
come across right here.
So, you’re not even getting wet.
– [Peter] And then who gets ’em here,
on the Arizona side?
– Border Patrol.
– That’s so interesting.
So, they wanna get caught.
– Oh yeah, it’s what we call give ups.
These are individuals that those countries
won’t take ’em back.
– [Peter] The Russians
won’t take ’em back?
– No.
– [Peter] Okay, so once they-
– Well, they claim an asylum,
because they’re coming
from a country of violence.
Okay. So, once they get in,
Customs Border Protection-
– Takes them in.
– Right.
– Processes them.
– Correct.
– And then they have an
asylum court hearing.
– Well, they’re given a notice to appear,
wherever they’re going in the US.
You gotta have a sponsor.
– [Peter] Okay.
– And I picked up pieces of paper
showing addresses within the
interior of the United States,
Wisconsin, New Jersey,
where that’s where they’re going.
– [Peter] What’s your understanding
of the backlog right now,
when they have to appear in that state?
– Before this administration
came along, the backlog,
as we understood it, was
anywhere from seven to 11 years.
Because, they had over 11 million illegals
that were still pending,
hearing.
– [Peter] He’s going the other way.
– [Peter] He’s going to Mexico.
– [Sheriff] Oh sh***
– [Peter] Oh, there we go.
– [Peter] Holy sh**
(people shouting)
(Sheriff speaking in a foreign language)
– [Agent] I think he went that way.
– [Sheriff] Did he?
– Okay, the one guy went through the gap.
This guy’s swimming right now.
– [Sheriff] See him?
He just went into the reeds.
Literally, guys, we’ve been down here,
just 10 minutes, or so.
Wow.
– [Sheriff] He’s still walking that way.
– [Agent] Is he on land?
– [Sheriff] No, he is on the water.
– [Agent] Okay.
– [Sheriff] Yeah, I’m watching him.
You gonna get the other one?
Just two?
– [Agent] Just two.
– [Sheriff] Okay.
– [Peter] So, I thought it would’ve been
a nighttime thing,
but it’s all the time.
– [Sheriff] All day long, every day.
So, these are the ones
that are the getaways.
– [Peter] So, this guy will go back,
hide in the reeds,
wait a while?
– [Sheriff] Yeah.
And then, he’ll come back.
– [Peter] He doesn’t
wanna get caught though.
– [Sheriff] No.
– [Peter] Why doesn’t
he wanna get caught?
– Probably, ’cause he is
either a prior deport,
or he’s got a criminal history.
You just heard him laughing.
He thinks it’s funny.
It’s all a game.
– [Peter] It’s just cat and mouse.
– [Sheriff] Yeah.
– [Peter] It looks like a pretty big jump
he’s about to do.
Ah, not too bad.
It’s hard to explain guys.
A very surreal part of the country.
And until you see it firsthand,
I know the video does
a bit of capturing it,
but here’s the opportunity.
And many people want the opportunity.
Very understandable.
(car engine revving)
Why, wouldn’t you want to
go where the opportunity is?
I mean, like I’ve always said,
I would do the same thing
if I was living in poverty,
or in a terrible situation.
I would go for the US,
but as an American,
I want the legal process to be respected.
– [Sheriff] Well..
– And we should know everyone
who’s coming in our country.
Right?
– [Sheriff] He’s coming up beside you.
– [Agent] Did you see
that one leave the pond?
– [Sheriff] Yeah, he’s going…
he’s already over and working his way up
towards the other side.
– [Peter] You sprinted pretty hard there.
– I did, I’m out of breath.
I need to start making
running videos.
– [Sheriff] Did you catch the other one?
– Yeah, the second one was
up by the train tracks.
– [Sheriff] Oh, was he? Okay.
(Sheriff laughing)
– [Sheriff] Well at least he caught
the one that was getting away.
Yeah, I get it.
But I mean, let me ask you something.
What’s the threshold?
– [Peter] Oh.
– Of dealing with it?
– Right there is a threshold.
– This country cannot…
We cannot afford to take
care of all these
other countries’ issues.
– Right.
– I mean, right now you look
at the massive amount of money
being spent each and every day,
by this administration dealing with this.
So, you look at one tent
to house individuals,
just a sleep in it is
about $4.5 million a month.
– What do you mean?
Oh, one of these big tents facilities?
– One of these big tents
that you see on the news
$4.5 million.
Now the other tents, are about $6.5 million
because that’s where they
have to cook the food
and feed the folks.
And then you look at
the fact that they got
laundry services, so they
can get their laundry done.
And the fact that Border
Patrol each and every day
has to buy food and clothing
to clothe these individuals.
When does it stop?
It’s $15-$16 million a month,
for HHS just to deal with
the unaccompanied children
that come across.
That’s your tax dollar, or mine.
– But we don’t have any
problems in this country.
So, we have plenty of money to spend.
(Peter laughing)
– Well, if you live in a bubble,
you don’t have a problem.
But we deal with reality here.
We got it all figured out here.
(Sheriff laughing)
No issues in America.
The video you’re watching
right now is 55 minutes long
which means that 3/4
of the original footage
didn’t make the cut.
either because it was too long,
or too controversial to be on YouTube.
This happens quite often,
that’s why I’ve decided to produce
an extra monthly video on Patreon
for those of you who would
like more content.
For example, here’s a sneak peak
of the Director’s Cut from this
video that’s 1.5 hours long.
And this is what I told Mayorkas…
Why do you think neither
side has really wanted to
resolve this issue?
That right there is a scout
that’s watching this area.
Oh, these guys down here.
There he sees them.
And I’ll also produce some bonus
episodes that won’t be available here.
I’ll leave my Patreon link
in the pinned comment below
where you can get full access.
– Because there’s so many coming across
and they were going out
into these farm fields
and defecating and littering.
The county had to put up these porta johns
at certain locations,
so that they wouldn’t go out in the fields
and contaminate the farm fields.
Why is the county having to pay that bill?
– [Peter] Right.
– The federal government
has already said that immigration is
their sole responsibility.
Right?
They’ve said that.
Why aren’t they paying their bills?
There are things in law enforcement,
called ethics, integrity.
I don’t get that outta Mayorkas at all.
– [Peter] Okay,
and for those that don’t
understand who Mayorkas is he’s-
– He’s the Secretary of Homeland Security.
His sole responsibility is the safety
and security of this country.
And he’s failing miserably.
So, here’s all the fencing.
– [Peter] Okay.
– That’s just been sitting here.
All this fencing that was
bought by taxpayer money,
just sitting there collecting dust.
You’re down here now?
(Sheriff laughing)
– [Sheriff] I was showing
him all the areas,
where they’re cutting the
fence and stuff like that, so…
– [Peter] They’re cutting
this with what a blow torch?
– Oh, they’ll use the
combination of wheel,
’cause they use the battery operated.
– [Security agent] Angle grinder.
– Angle grinder.
And then they’ll cut the metal
and then they have to
chisel out the concrete,
’cause each one of those
post has concrete in them.
Stay safe brother.
– [Security agent] You too.
(Sheriff laughing)
– [Peter] Okay, so…
Someone might
hear, you got the fence,
but they can cut a hole in it.
So, why have the fence?
– Again, it’s A, a deterrent.
– B…
The amount of time it takes
them to be able to cut this.
– [Peter] Yeah.
– It gives the Border Patrol
the ability to come
down here and intercept.
So, when you see parts of the fence
that have that patch on it.
– [Peter] Okay, right there?
– [Sheriff] That’s where they
have cut right above that piece
and that’s allowed them the ability
to swing that fence post.
– [Peter] Okay.
– [Sheriff] So, they can get through.
And you see there’s a walkway
all along the side of this fence.
I’ve actually intercepted
them, cutting the fence myself.
And I got the one finger wave,
’cause it pissed them off.
– [Peter] Can you do
anything being sheriff or
Border Patrol has to do it?
[Sheriff] Border Patrol has to do it.
Arizona had 1070 law
and that allowed us to charge
an individual for smuggling.
But the Obama administration
sued the state of Arizona.
It took ’em to court.
Supreme Court said, “Yes, you’re right.
“Federal responsibility is immigration.
Smuggling is part of that.
So, Arizona, you cannot
charge a person for smuggling”.
So, if we detain anybody for
just an immigration violation,
technically we can get charged
by the Department of
Justice for kidnapping.
Figure that one out.
Even if our officers respond
to a domestic violence call,
and we find a house full of
individuals that are in there.
There’s nothing that we can
charge that person with,
knowingly that they are smuggling.
Now, we can try to get
a hold of Border Patrol,
if they have people to respond.
But that’s in Yuma.
All the rest of the places
throughout the country,
they don’t have access to Border Patrol,
or HSI to come take the case.
– [Peter] What’s the
number one nationality
you’re seeing these days?
– [Sheriff] Right now…
I think the top ones is Ecuador,
then Columbia.
– [Peter] What’s with OTM?
Have you heard of that,
“Other Ehan Mexicans”?
– Yeah, they’ve used that
for years other than Mexican.
That’s what all these are.
I mean, you don’t see a
whole lot of individuals
from Mexico proper trying to come across,
’cause they’ll get returned immediately,
because there’s that
agreement with the country.
So, when you look at people
talking about Title 42,
that’s where they’re able
to send individuals back
to those countries.
95% of what comes across
into Yuma is Title 8.
These are individuals that
are coming from countries,
where that government
won’t take them back.
– [Peter] Are there cartels operating much
on this side of the border in Yuma?
Are you dealing with them?
– They’re on both sides.
It’s safer for them to live over here.
Think about it.
So, you do have members of the cartel,
that live in the US, all along the border.
You have sicarios that
live on the US side.
– [Peter] Sicarios?
– Hitmen.
– [Peter] Okay.
– Those are what the cartels use
to take out their opponents, let’s say.
So, you have major narcotics
groups all through the US.
MS13 is is one that everybody’s
familiar here with,
well that’s why they’re integrated
in all these communities
because they work with the cartels,
not only the narcotics side,
but the human side as well.
Because, if you can’t
afford to pay the cartel,
then you are going to
pay them in another way.
Human trafficking.
So, they’re gonna pay according
to what the cartel wants.
So, if you got a kid,
they may use that kid to
smuggle in other people,
send ’em back to that country,
bring in somebody else,
portray a family unit.
You may end up with-
– [Peter] Portray a family unit…
’cause if you come in as a family unit…
– You have quicker access
to get into the US.
So, we’re coming up on
the Cocopah tribal land
and in Arizona, tribal
land is sovereign land.
And the Cocopah is a River People.
So, they need access to the river,
because that’s part of their….
– [Peter] So, on their tribal
land, there’s no fence?
– There’s no fence.
There are bollards,
or we call ’em Normandy barriers.
And that’s used to keep the individuals
that were smuggling narcotics.
– [Peter] Okay.
– From coming across
in vehicles and UTVs.
But again, here’s the porta
johns that we had to do.
Border Patrol had to put
up a cover for shade.
– [Peter] So, this is
for migrants coming in?
– Yep.
So, to give you an idea of the monstrosity
that we’re dealing with here,
this was all covered in trash.
Some NGOs have come in
and cleaned this up.
But what I would find down here is,
all these identification
cards and passports.
I picked all these up myself.
– [Peter] Just in the dirt out here?
– Just on the ground.
And we might find some again today.
But see, these are individuals,
that have fled countries of violence,
then gone to another country,
been allowed to stay there.
That’s what a lot of these green ones are.
They’ve been allowed to
reside in those countries
and work and live.
But that’s not what their
original intent was.
Their original intent was
to get through that country,
to get to the United States.
So, they discard their
passports, their ID cards,
and they portray themselves
as somebody different,
from their original country of violence.
So, it’s a game.
So, we share all this with HSI.
So, every one of these
have been shared with
our federal government.
But this is just a small snapshot,
of what I’ve picked up down here
as far as passports.
– So,
if you’re from Venezuela, right?
Let me try to walk through this, right?
You come over, you come
up through Mexico, right?
You wanna discard your
passport before you come over?
– [Sheriff] Yeah, because
everything’s given to you here.
– Okay, what happens if you
come over with your passport,
they’re gonna say?
– Well, for some now,
they’re allowed to stay.
– Some are allowed to stay.
– Yeah.
– Okay.
– But those individuals have already
reestablished residency somewhere else.
– So, maybe it’s a Venezuelan
that lived in Mexico,
for five years.
– Or a year.
– Or a year, okay.
– And their ultimate goal was to get here.
– Right, I read a lot of
the Haitians that came in,
say this last summer, or whenever
that was in the last year.
– Yeah.
– A lot of ’em lived in
Chile, or other places.
Not even Haiti.
– [Sheriff] Oh yeah.
– And they recently came up.
But they haven’t even been
in Haiti for a long time.
– [Sheriff] No.
– [Peter] Okay.
So, here’s where it ends.
– [Sheriff] So, here’s where the fencing ends.
And this is the tribal
land, as you can see.
So, you have the Cocopah tribal land,
which is sacred sovereign land.
You get some border challenge coins.
Look right here.
See what I was telling you about?
They tossed their money.
So, this is all money.
They know when they get here,
they’re gonna be able to..
– [Peter] Here’s a euro.
– [Sheriff] Yeah, so.
– [Peter] Look at that.
– [Sheriff] Go ahead and pick ’em up.
– [Peter] We have a euro.
– [Sheriff] Don’t throw it back down,
keep it.
– [Peter] What is that?
– [Sheriff] I’ll put it in my package.
– [Peter] It’s a peso.
You’re a coin collector now, sheriff.
– [Sheriff] Well, I use it for display.
Display purposes.
– [Peter] What coins have you seen?
Like what are the most
far out there coins?
– [Sheriff] Well, I’m waiting
to find something from Russia.
(Sheriff laughing)
– [Peter] We’re looking for
Russian rubles out here, on the border.
– [Sheriff] Anybody I bring down here…
Well, you missed a bunch.
You see right here?
They tear up their IDs,
they’re still doing it.
– [Peter] Okay.
– [Sheriff] They’ll tear up
their identification card,
because they don’t wanna get caught.
– [Peter] Chile.
There’s some more right there.
See, look, you’re missing a lot of money.
– [Peter] More euros.
This is crazy.
– [Sheriff] When I bring-
– [Peter] What a wild, I
mean, you’re used to it,
but what a wild part of the world.
We’re right here.
– [Sheriff] Yeah.
– [Peter] Yuma County.
Then the Natives control this land.
– [Sheriff] Right.
– [Peter] We have euros in the dirt.
– [Sheriff] Yeah.
– And Russians and 140 nationalities
getting through here, in
some way, shape or form.
– [Sheriff] Oh yeah.
Here’s some more right here, look.
See? More IDs tore apart.
– [Peter] Okay, so they
just clip the IDs.
– [Sheriff] See, if you put this together,
it’ll have all the information you need.
– [Peter] So, why do they
do it right on the border?
Why don’t they just do
it like way in there?
– [Sheriff] Lord only knows.
– [Peter] Toothbrushes.
– [Sheriff] Yeah.
– [Peter] So, it’s not
an eco-friendly bunch.
But that’s the last thing on their minds,
obviously trying to get
into another country.
– Yeah, they don’t care.
I mean, you look at some of this trash,
I can show you pictures where,
all of this is just covered
in trash, this whole area.
But luckily an NGO came
along and cleaned it up,
because they knew senators were coming.
And because the senators are coming,
you gotta sanitize before they get here,
to make it look like there’s
not really a big issue.
– [Peter] ‘Cause you come
here now and you’re like,
“Ah, there’s no issue”,
there’s no one trying to get over.
– [Sheriff] Yeah.
– [Peter] But you’re saying it pulses,
like you have the tent set up there.
You had a big rush here.
Now, it’s somewhere else.
– [Sheriff] Now it’s moved.
– We had the guy that we ran
into down there obviously.
– [Sheriff] Yeah.
– [Peter] This guy’s got a full ID here.
– [Sheriff] Oh, look, there’s
all kinds of ’em right here.
– [Peter] This guy’s from China.
– [Sheriff] Yeah.
That’s what I’m saying.
– [Peter] I’m gonna be devil’s advocate
for one second, ready?
– [Sheriff] Go right ahead.
– Just go along with me here.
– [Peter] We’re a country of immigrants.
– [Sheriff] Right.
– [Peter] We all came from somewhere.
– [Sheriff] Right.
– And we need immigration.
– [Sheriff] Correct.
– We need a workforce.
– [Sheriff] Okay.
– We need brains.
We need talent, we need work.
But like you said before,
there’s a threshold,
like how much can you take?
And everyone has a threshold as in like,
they’re living in their house.
– And all of a sudden they had 300 people
show up on their front lawn,
they would’ve reached
their threshold, right?
So, what is that threshold?
Maybe that’s the big question,
which nobody can really agree on, right?
– [Sheriff] Well, you have these
electeds and all you hear is,
“We need to fix our immigration”
“We need to fix our
immigration laws”, right?
Why don’t we have a change
in the immigration laws?
Because they can’t get together on it.
So, what do they do?
They create a crisis to take
your mind off of the fact,
that they can’t do their job.
– [Peter] What’s the crisis?
– Immigration, COVID, you name it.
– [Peter] Here’s another Euro.
– [Sheriff] Oh cool.
– [Peter] Did you ever see
as many euros down here, euro coins?
Or is that a new thing?
– No, I got, oh look, there’s a whole ID.
– [Sheriff] Nigeria?
Where’s that one?
– [Peter] Peru.
– [Peter] Oh look, more.
– [Peter] Jesus.
– [Sheriff] See, they don’t..
– [Peter] So, they find it easier
over here, obviously?
– [Sheriff] Well, yeah, you
can walk right across here.
Look, here’s some more.
It’s blowing right at you.
– [Peter] It’s snowing currency.
– [Sheriff] You know how much…
– [Peter] Too bad this
isn’t worth anything.
– [Sheriff] Well over there it is.
– [Peter] So the Cocopah fence
is just to show that’s where the border,
obviously that doesn’t stop anything?
– Well, that was actually put into place
to deter the tractor thefts
and the stolen vehicles
that were being stolen here,
taken into Mexico.
The tractors were obviously
sold to other farmers
down deep in Mexico.
But the cars were turned
into smuggling vehicles
and then they would drive back across
with large loads of narcotics.
So, that’s why all that
was put into place.
It was like a vehicle
barrier, but it didn’t deter,
the tribe’s ability to get to the river.
Now that we’re down here
towards Gadsden and San Luis
welcome to Jurassic Park.
So, please keep your hands and your limbs
inside the vehicle at all times.
Because I don’t want you to-
– [Peter] You have a garage door opener
for the fence, is that
what’s going on here?
– [Sheriff] For the gate, yeah.
– [Peter] This is still the US right?
– [Sheriff] Yeah, this is all US.
– Welcome to Mexico [chuckle]
Like I’m gonna be carrying guns in Mexico.
They’d love that right now.
– So, what do we have here, burnt wire?
What’s the point of that?
– [Sheriff] Well, they were keeping warm,
so they burned anything
that they could find.
– [Peter] Isn’t setting a fire here
is just like a basic sign
that you’re here and…
– Well, they got a camera
right there, so they know.
But they’re just waiting for Border Patrol
to have the resources to come pick ’em up.
What is that right there?
– [Peter] Yeah.
(sheriff chuckles)
Here we got a Cuba…
– [Sheriff] We gotta work on
your powers of observation.
– [Peter] I know, but this is the hard detail…
-Well, you’re supposed to pick it up.
– Oh, sorry, I forgot.
I’m your Trivette.
You’re Walker Texas Ranger, I’m Trivette.
(both laughing)
How does it make you feel
though, seeing this every day?
Do you become numb, or
does it dishearten you,
because you love your country?
Or, what does that feel like for you?
– I feel bad for the rest
of the country because,
we’re all gonna have to deal with this.
Your community’s gonna pay the price
for what this administration’s doing
of not enforcing the rule of law.
The bottom line is to
enter this country legally,
you have to go to a port of entry.
Claim asylum at a port of entry,
that is the law.
I get the fact that a
lot of the politicians
don’t like the immigration law.
Well, fix it and change it.
But until then, you need
to enforce the rule of law.
It worked.
We’ve seen it through
the prior administration,
when we were only getting
25 to 40 apprehensions
a day in Yuma county proper
versus over a thousand a day now.
This administration,
because of their politics
and personal and political ideologies,
stopped all that because
they hate one guy,
who actually supported law enforcement.
And the people of this
country need to understand,
that this is coming into their backyard.
This person’s gonna be in their backyard,
under a different name.
And you don’t know what
kind of criminal history
this guy’s got.
I’ve run into doctors,
I’ve run into lawyers from
different countries down here.
I’ve run into school teachers.
They’re straight up with you,
on why they’re coming here.
But then you have the others
that don’t wanna be identified.
And why?
Is this a child molester?
Is this a murderer?
What kind of crimes has he done
in that country that he fled?
That’s a question that
anybody in public safety
would want to know.
But yet, because of the
policies of this administration,
we’re probably never gonna
know until it’s too late,
because somebody’s gonna get hurt.
That’s what’s great about
being sheriffs in rural areas.
When you’ve worked in that
community for so long,
they know you.
It’s one thing that I tell every officer,
that goes through an academy,
never, ever in your career
compromise your integrity,
or your ethics, ’cause
once you compromise that,
you can never get that back.
So..
– [Peter] You’ve been here for how long
in law enforcement?
– Well, I started as a reserve
when I was in the Marine
Corps back in 1985.
For all you mathematicians out there,
how many years was that?
– [Peter] We’re coming up on almost 40.
– 38.
– [Peter] In two years, yeah.
– We’re given a gift
of being able to go out
and do something that’s
gonna help somebody else.
So, I enjoy the fact that I can go out
and do things that most
careers don’t allow you to do.
– [Peter] Okay, so
these are field workers.
– [Sheriff] No, these are illegals.
– [Peter] Seriously?
– [Sheriff] Yes.
– [Peter] Can we cruise by ’em?
– [Sheriff] Yeah, we’re gonna.
So, the cartels are collecting their money
down here under this bridge.
So, that bridge is actually in Mexico.
But there is nothing between us and there,
other than this fence.
– Wow, so they’re super casual
and look like they’re walking
off to school or the park
or something.
– [Sheriff] Men, women,
children, infants.
– [Peter] So you wave to them.
– Why not?
– [Peter] So you have
a decent relationship
with these people coming in?
– Well, I’m not here to…
It doesn’t matter where they’re from.
– [Peter] Yeah.
– We still have a duty and responsibility
as far as public safety goes.
Some of these people have been victimized.
The children have been taken
to our child facilities,
because they were violated
along their trek to get here.
You don’t know what’s happened to them,
or where they’re from.
You’re welcome to talk to ’em
if you want to.
– [Peter] Okay.
– Find out where they’re
from, or where they’re going.
– [Peter] Yeah, yeah.
– Hola.
– De dónde eres
(Where are you from?)
– Ecuador?
– Colombia?
– [Peter] Buenos dias.
– [Peter] Buenos dias.
– [Sheriff] Ecuador.
– [Peter] Colombia.
– [Sheriff] Where are you going in the US?
– [Peter] California, New York?
– [Sheriff] California.
– [Peter] New York?
– [Man] Yeah.
– [Peter] But don’t do this anymore, no more…
No mas…
Estados Unidos.
Por favor.
Gracias.
Buena suerte.
– [Man] Gracias.
– [Sheriff] Another one.
(Sheriff laughing)
Zoom in right under
the bridge on that car.
– [Peter] Okay.
– [Sheriff] So, that’s where
they’ll meet up with the cartels
and then they’ll point
them in the direction.
– [Peter] So, the cartels
are are right there.
– [Sheriff] Yeah.
– [Peter] Do they ever
fire over the border?
– Oh yeah.
We actually had some individual
Border Patrols doing special detail.
‘Cause we were having
a bunch of kidnappings
going on out here,
because the criminal
element over there in Mexico
knows that these folks have money.
So, as the cartels, we got ’em across,
another criminal group would
come in and kidnap ’em,
to take all their money and their jewelry.
So, Border Patrol was doing
special details down here
and got an actual shootout
with the bad guys.
One died in the US soil, so
he ended up in our mortuary.
But that happens down here quite a bit,
along this area because it’s so lucrative.
I mean it’s a cash crop per se.
– [Peter] Every one of
these people in their eyes
is what $6,000?
– Yeah.
– [Peter] $7,000-$8,000.
So, it’s quick money.
– [Peter] The cartels don’t wanna
mess with you correct?
Like they wouldn’t fire a bullet over?
– Oh they probably would.
(Peter laughing nervously)
– [Peter] Should we get in the car?
– I mean it’s something
we live with every day.
Trust me, if they start shooting
at me, I’m shooting back,
’cause that’s still the US.
And they know that local law enforcement
doesn’t tolerate it.
If you get caught over
here, you’re going to jail, period.
They already know that here.
And they know that over there.
The Feds might let them get away with it,
but local law enforcement will not.
So, yeah…
(Peter exhales)
– [Peter] I’ll tell these people
there’s some water over here.
Amigos.
Agua.
Okay, you got.
– This place will be full of people.
They usually have ’em
come over in large groups.
And here’s why they do that.
They will inundate Border Patrol
with large groups of
individuals that are giveups.
So, it ties up Border Patrol’s
resources from the field
and takes them away from out east,
so they can get their narcotics
and the other humans smuggling
for those that don’t want to
get caught across the border.
– [Peter] So yeah, the clothes,
like new white clothes,
the backpack looks pretty new.
Not dirty.
They didn’t do a hard journey.
– [Sheriff] No.
– And so how it works is
if you get over right?
You’re gonna call back home
and you’re gonna say to your friends,
or relatives gonna be saying,
“Hey, here’s how you do it.
“It’s pretty easy right now”.
– [Sheriff] Yep.
– It just encourages more.
– Yeah.
They’re coming here to better their life.
I get that.
But, they need to do it the legal way.
I’m also a public safety servant.
Anybody in my county, we respond to help.
We’ve handled over 780,
911 calls from immigrants
that were left abandoned
out in our remote desert,
needing help.
– [Peter] 780 last year or?
– Yeah.
If we end up with somebody
that has a medical condition down here,
that takes away that EMS resource,
from that community to
handle this down here.
Federal government isn’t reimbursing them.
Our deputies working on overtime,
much like the rest of
local law enforcement,
try to fill the gap for Border Patrol,
because they’re tied up with this.
We’ve taken over 70 death investigations
out in the remote desert,
because people died out there,
because they were
abandoned by the cartels.
(door beeping)
You’re right here in San Luis, Arizona.
That’s San Luis, Mexico.
Right across the fence.
So, what the cartels will do,
is they will have a large
buildup of individuals
that don’t want to get caught.
They will utilize those ladders
to get up the fence and cross over.
Border Patrol has to
respond to try to catch ’em,
but unfortunately you’re so
close to the housing areas,
that they don’t catch ’em all.
So, they do end up in these neighborhoods
and that’s part of the impact
on the local community.
– [Peter] How do these neighborhoods feel?
– Well, they don’t care for that.
They don’t want it in their backyard,
anymore than you’d want
somebody running into yours.
– [Peter] But there’re probably
some stash houses out here, right?
– Oh there are.
I mean, right up here is the old
Kentucky Fried Chicken building,
where we had the most recent
drug tunnel identified.
– [Peter] Drug tunnel?
– Drug tunnel.
– [Peter] Into the Kentucky Fried Chicken?
– [Sheriff] Yeah.
(Peter chuckles)
So, came up into the kitchen.
– The drug tunnel went under the fence.
– Under the canal…
Kentucky Fried Chicken
had sold the building
to another guy.
It was owned privately,
because a guy was going to turn
it into another restaurant.
It wasn’t operating at that time.
– [Sheriff] Right.
So, they built a tunnel
under all this infrastructure
and they ended up tunneling
up to the kitchen area.
And it was a small opening,
because it was all hard narcotics.
So, we’re talking
fentanyl, heroin, cocaine,
methamphetamine.
– [Peter] So, no one
was crawling through it?
– Oh they were, they were
crawling all the way up.
But the hole in the floor was small.
– [Peter] Do you think they’ll make it
to the Pizza Hut this year?
(Peter laughing)
– [Sheriff] Hard to say.
– [Peter] They’re quite ambitious.
It could happen.
– [Sheriff] You gotta be
one heck of an engineer,
to be able to plot
depth and everything else,
to get all the way over
there to here.
That’s millions of dollars.
And you see that pinkish
style building up there?
– [Peter] Yeah.
– Right across the street was
an old postal type business.
Not US postal, but a packaging company.
That’s where the other tunnel came across,
is right out there.
So, it went underneath all that up there.
– So, what percentage of tunnels
do you think are not getting discovered
that are currently in operation?
– [Sheriff] I’m sure there’s quite a few.
– [Peter] Plenty of ’em, right?
– Yeah.
Right now a big thing for us down here
dealing with is drones.
You got a drone that
can carry a few pounds.
Fentanyl don’t weigh much right?
So, you can get a big
old package of fentanyl,
have a drone come across and their GPS
controlled to a certain location
and they’ll drop it in a neighborhood
and then they’ll fly back.
– And just so you guys all
know, sheriffs can speak openly,
unlike most police officers,
unlike Customs and Border Protection,
they cannot speak on camera,
correct?
– [Sheriff] No.
– They’re not gonna speak like you do.
– No, they have to get
authorization from…
Like Chiefs of Police,
they have to get authorization
from their council
and their city managers.
– And they’re gonna speak
political speak, double speak.
They’re not really gonna
tell the true story,
’cause that could
jeopardize their employment.
Whereas sheriffs,
you’re not accountable to anybody.
Is that correct?
Is that the story?
– Well, I’m accountable
to the people I work for
and that’s the community of Yuma.
– And one of the very cool
things about the United States
is you can do a ride along.
Like, technically this is a ride along.
I go to the sheriff’s office,
I can fill out paperwork and
I can ride with the sheriff.
– [Sheriff] Yeah.
– To understand what you guys do.
– And you can do that with your local
law enforcement Police Department too.
– [Peter] Oh, yep, yep.
– You know?
And I would encourage people to do that.
I will tell you what,
I’ve got over a hundred volunteers
that work for my agency.
These are folks that are retired,
that wanted something to do
to give back to their communities.
So, I have a number of volunteers
that go through our
academy that are armed,
that go out into this desert
and do proactive patrols.
They work with our
Search and Rescue group.
They grab a patrol car
and they go out and they
help us with neighborhood watch.
It’s all about being
involved in your community.
(gentle music)
I’m gonna head East.
– [Sheriff] Just so you
know where we’re going.
– [Sheriff] Oh do you? Okay.
Slow so far?
(laughing)
(soft music)
– [Peter] So, here we go, double fence.
– [Sheriff] Yep.
See two lights up, right?
– [Peter] Two lights, yeah.
– [Sheriff] All rest of
these didn’t get put up,
with the cameras because this
administration stopped it.
Now you have this Highway 2
and this no gate.
– [Peter] So how are they
getting over this one?
They can get over with a ladder.
– [Sheriff] Ladder.
– [Peter] That takes a little time.
Then they have to get that ladder over
and then they have to…
– [Sheriff] Well, really
you just shimmy down there.
– [Peter] You shimmy down.
– [Sheriff] Yeah.
– [Peter] And then you have to get
another ladder set up here,
which would take time.
Or, you can just go through that.
– Which would allow Border Patrol
to get here, but there is no gate.
– [Peter] Okay.
(sheriff chuckles)
– How much does that make sense?
– [Peter] It’s the smoothest
dirt road I’ve been on.
– It’s ’cause you’re in a Raptor.
My Search and Rescue
is out here with these,
’cause regular four wheel
drives, they just get beat up.
You get beat up, ’cause
it’s not all smooth.
As you’ll see when I cut
up through smuggler’s pass,
it gets a little rough.
– [Peter] Oh yeah.
(car tires gently screech)
(laughing)
– [Sheriff] That was for you.
This is a well known area where
individuals are brought up.
‘Cause you can cross right here.
– [Peter] So, here we have
the trail going right up.
And this is the border.
When they get to the US side here,
this is pretty tough going, huh?
There’s nothing over here.
– It’s two to three days
walking directly north,
from here to get to any
kind of civilization.
And unfortunately this is where
we end up with people dying,
is because they’ve been
led to believe that
it’s only a little ways, you
don’t have to carry a lot,
you don’t have to have a
lot of food, a lot of water.
And you’re going through a bombing range.
This is where the military
trains and they do live fire.
There’s a lot of unexploded ordinance
and everything else that’s out here.
– So, the cartels have
already got their money.
When they get the people,
the migrants to here.
They’ve done their job, right?
– [Sheriff] Yeah.
– [Peter] They got their money.
So, they don’t care if
they die in the US side.
– [Sheriff] No.
It’s a commodity.
It’s not a human life.
– [Peter] So, you’re saying-
– [Sheriff] Are those people up here?
Those are people.
– [Peter] Where?
– [Sheriff] Right here.
– [Peter] Oh geez.
How are you guys doing?
Came from India?
Mumbai?
Dehradun?
– [Peter] Gujarati.
– [Peter] Chicago.
That’s where you’re going?
Chicago?
What’d you do in India?
– [Peter] Congress party worker.
Okay.
You fly into Mexicali?
– [Peter] No, fly.
– [Sheriff] Were they on a bus?
– [Peter] Were you on a bus?
– [Sheriff] (to the radio) Yuma 1.
With a group of nine from India.
– [Speaker] Yeah, that’s f***** weird.
I wonder if there was a smuggler
who was supposed to pick
them up out there but…
– [Sheriff] Might be.
– [Speaker] That’s kind of strange.
I wonder if it’s because
they extended Title 42.
But India is not a Title 42.
– [Sheriff] No it’s not, they’re Title 8.
So, I don’t know why they
came in through here.
Usually they’re down by the river.
– [Speaker] Maybe they
paid the wrong people.
– [Sheriff] Yeah.
(Sheriff laughing)
What’s up brother?
– [Speaker] How are you doing sir?
– Good, you?
– Not too bad.
– [Sheriff] Yeah, they were
just walking down the road.
– [Sheriff] Oh, they have?
– [Agent 2] How are you doing sir?
– [Sheriff] Living the dream, right?
– [Peter] How are you doing sir?
– [Agent 2] Hey, how are you doing?
– [Peter] Peter.
– [Agent 2] Luis.
– [Peter] Luis, nice to meet you.
– Usually they’ll shoot like
a group like this through here
and then through 195 I’ll try to have a..
– [Sheriff] Get another one across?
– Yeah, get another one across.
– So, it’s all about tying up you guys.
– Yes sir.
– There you go.
These folks we’re sitting here constantly
dialing 911 to get picked up.
So, cartels exploiting
Border Patrol resources,
by having them do that out here,
to get their other product through
back where we were before.
– [Peter] What, people or drugs?
– Both.
And what better way to do
it than having a group,
30 miles out in the middle of nowhere,
where you know that public
safety is a priority.
Human life is a priority.
– [Peter] Night’s coming,
they’d freeze out here.
– Yeah.
– So it’s all part of the game.
And I’m sure the cartel is
over there somewhere watching,
’cause the highway is right there.
– I’ll help you out.
Look.
Pull this one out,
go like this, see?
There you go.
Pull the other one out.
– [Peter] Why do they take the laces out?
Just so they…
– Well you can use them for…
– [Peter] Whatever yeah.
So, you gotta make sure they
don’t have any knives, guns, narcotics.
– [Peter] So they obviously have money.
They had the money to fly from India.
They’re all wearing new clothes.
They flew up, paid the cartels.
– [Sheriff] Yeah.
– [Peter] Have you seen many guys
from India coming recently?
– Oh, to be honest with
you, all nationalities.
I mean, to answer your question, yes,
but they’re all nationalities.
– [Peter] But you can’t really
talk to me much, can you?
– No.
– You can’t talk to a PAO.
– [Peter] Or the sheriff.
– Yeah, the sheriff.
(Peter laughs)
– [Sheriff] So what you’re
watching is Border Patrol…
No, you can still do your b-roll.
– [Peter] Okay.
– I’m just explaining
what they’re doing.
So, that device that…
device that he has,
looks like a cell phone,
is they’re actually taking
a picture of their passport
and that integrates all that
information from that passport
into Border Patrol system.
And they’re also taking
a picture of the tag,
for that person’s property.
By the time they get to
Border Patrol station,
their info is already in
their system at their station.
And that’s why I made a
hint that they’re almost
turned into TSA agents,
because that’s what happens at an airport,
when you get on a plane,
they take a picture of your passport,
run it through the system,
then you move on your way.
– Mission accomplished for them though,
they’re in now,
they’re gonna have an asylum hearing,
whether it’s right, or wrong
in three, four or five years.
– [Sheriff] Yeah.
– If it’s not a legitimate asylum,
they’re just gonna dodge it
and disappear into the country.
If it is, then they’ll get
asylum papers and be good.
– But you know, who this ain’t fair too.
Is the ones that are going
through the process legally
and still waiting.
This is not helping them at all.
But yet they’re going
through the legal motions
and they’re just being
pushed aside because of this.
– If you do it the right
way, it’s gonna take years,
many years.
– [Sheriff] Yeah.
But yet..
– So, this is the fast,
this is the only way to do it,
in say this lifetime.
– [Sheriff] Yeah.
– And this is what’s
never explained is that,
they’ll have sort of a temporary status,
until the asylum court hearing date,
which is gonna be years out.
– Right.
– If it’s not a legitimate
claim, which most of them aren’t,
over 70% aren’t, then
they’re not gonna show up.
– Right.
– And they’re gonna be in the United States,
sort of in this in between status forever.
Like actually an illegal status.
– Yeah.
– Now if their asylum claim
is real, it’s legitimate,
it will go through the courts.
They’ll be processed and
they’re on their pathway
to a US citizen eventually.
– Right.
– So, that’s how it works and that’s
what we’re never explained to.
– One out of 10.
– [Peter] One out of 10,
you’re saying, okay.
– Is roughly what the numbers were before.
I would imagine when you’ve got
two… point somewhat million
last year that came across like this,
it might be less than that.
(chopper whirring)
– [Peter] This makes sense now.
they got through this little gap.
– [Sheriff] Yeah.
– [Peter] Because the fence
on the other side is…
– [Sheriff] You can dig under it.
– [Peter] But it’s even
like an easy ladder
to get over it, right?
– [Sheriff] Well, you don’t
even need a ladder for this one.
– [Peter] Oh, you just dig right under.
– [Sheriff] You can dig right under it.
I’ll show you a place where,
when we get up here where
the wash is undercut
underneath that.
– [Peter] So if the fence was
in that spot right there,
there’s no way they’d get through?
– No, it’d still be
walking down the middle.
– [Peter] ‘Cause that’s a family, like…
It seemed like a… I mean who knows?
Nice…
– But if they were looking
at walking all the way up,
you’re talking a minimum of two days.
– [Peter] So, how many
Border Patrol guys here,
say, on this last 10
miles we’ve been on the fence?
– Just those two.
– [Peter] Just those two?
– Yeah.
See how they can just walk
right through over there?
– [Peter] Okay, yeah, let’s take a look.
Just walk over here and you’re good to go.
– [Sheriff] Right.
And you can tell it’s being used.
You can tell by the tracks
the blanket on the ground.
– [Peter] Yeah, that’s easy.
The coyotes can literally
just put, drop ’em right here
and say walk over and call 911.
– [Sheriff] Yeah.
– [Peter] Easy.
– [Sheriff] That’s what
we’re dealing with.
– [Peter] That’s why the
kid’s shoes were whiter
and cleaner than mine.
– [Sheriff] Yeah.
– [Sheriff] I’m taking you
where there’s lot of ’em come up
and they’re told to follow
this mountain range.
– [Peter] Oh, look at the fence
going up the mountain there.
– Yeah.
Because we’ve experienced
through past administrations
and their policies uptick
in smuggling happening
through these desert areas.
There’s been a number of these stations
that have been put up by Border Patrol.
So, all you gotta do
is push that red button
and rescue would come.
– [Peter] One hour.
– [Sheriff] Yeah.
– [Peter] Because in the
summer, how hot is this?
– It can get up to 115F,
ambient air temperature, maybe 120F.
But the ground temperature
will be probably 134F.
– So is the traffic relaxed a lot?
The border, the crossing’s
a lot in the summer,
it’s more of a wintertime thing?
– Not really.
They just come across at night
and then they hold up during the day.
– [Peter] So right now,
because it’s cooler,
it’s winter, they’re going during the day?
– During the day.
And they’ll still hold up in the washes
and try to stay warm at night.
This is the El Camino del Diablo.
One of the passes where individuals
will traverse across the border.
– [Peter] So, the scouts live in Mexico
and just come back and forth all the time?
– No, they stay up in the mountain.
– [Peter] For what weeks?
– Oh yeah.
And groups that come
across bring food and water
and whatever else they need.
They find a location up in the mountains
where they can monitor
and have radio access,
’cause they carry radios with them.
They carry solar panels with
them when they get up there.
And that’s how they get
paid is by each group
that gets through.
So, they run a like a tally book.
(gentle music)
– All right guys, it’s almost
the end of the daylight hours.
Unfortunately we didn’t
get back into Yuma.
That was the goal, right?
To show the hospital.
– [Sheriff] It was, well, for you it was.
– [Peter] Okay.
(laughing)
– I mean, anybody can shoot a hospital.
– [Peter] Okay, the story
of the hospital though,
you had something to say.
– Well, when you
look at the ancillary impacts
that a community has,
part of that is the fact that Yuma County,
310,000 people came
through here, give ups.
So, we have one hospital that
services all Yuma County.
It was a 23 million impact
on their operations,
having to deal with illegal immigrants,
that had to come into the
hospital to be treated
for anything from
dialysis to health issues,
that they had brought with them,
that were never treated.
Down to the fact that
it was even impacting
the neonatal ICU.
The hospital had to cancel appointments,
because they were
overloaded dealing with
the immigrant crisis and the hospital
was not getting reimbursed at all,
from the federal government.
Now, you wonder why your
hospital bill is so big,
is because the hospital
has to share that cost
with you as a consumer, to fill that gap.
So, you’re looking at tying up
not only your law enforcement resources,
because we’re out here
having to fill that gap,
but you’re tying up EMS
from different communities.
You’re tying up the
hospital and bed space,
that the local community
cannot now utilize,
because they’re busy
taking care of this issue.
And with the federal government saying
that it’s their responsibility.
Well, you know, put away your personal
and political rhetoric and your innuendos.
Get down to business, pay your bills.
I’m average eating
about 1.2 million a year
in housing illegals that
have committed state crimes
and get reimbursed 5 cents on the dollar.
– [Peter] Okay, so Yuma
County has to eat that cost.
– Every citizen in Yuma
has to eat that cost.
Remember, every one of these
persons that are coming in
and impacting our resources
are now going into
the interior of the United States.
They’re coming to your neighborhood,
they’re coming to your
county and it’s gonna be it,
it is no longer a border crisis.
It’s a nation crisis.
– [Peter] It’s definitely a crisis.
– [Sheriff] It is.
– [Peter] That’s the feel done here.
Well, sheriff, thank you.
– Pleasure.
– That was awesome.
I’m gonna finish this video
on the top of these rocks.
– [Sheriff] Well, you have fun.
If you fall, I might catch you.
(Sheriff laughing)
– [Peter] I’ll be back in two minutes.
– [Sheriff] Okay.
– [Peter] There’s a radio up here.
– [Sheriff] A handheld radio?
– [Peter] Handheld with an
antenna and a solar panel.
– [Sheriff] All right, hang on (chuckles).
We have Buckeye cameras out here,
so it might be a repeater for it.
Yeah.
– [Peter] That’s one of your camera…
– [Sheriff] Yeah, it’s not a radio,
it’s a repeater.
– All right guys, wanna close
on a few final thoughts here.
That was an absolutely
unbelievable, just bizarre,
crazy experience today,
and I can’t even capture it in words,
or through the camera.
Obviously this is a super political topic.
It has been forever.
It’s been used as leverage by each party.
But no matter where you
stand on this thing,
it is a humanitarian crisis.
It is very serious.
It is unsustainable.
I can definitely say that.
And even if, say you’re the
most pro open border person
in the world, where there
should be no borders
and everyone should be everywhere,
you’d be horrified by the sex trafficking,
by the powers of the cartel.
It’s absolutely dysfunctional
what’s going on here at this border.
So, today was just one peek in.
I get it.
There are many perspectives.
There are hundreds of
videos that need to be shown
to really fully explain the situation,
but today was a big eye-opener.
I’ve done a few of these
videos on the border
and the sheriff really
brought us into what
they are dealing with,
which is absolute insanity.
All right guys,
thanks for coming along on that journey,
until the next one.
(gentle music)