Law Enforcement Officials Call for Better Border Solutions  

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Local law enforcement leaders are underscoring the need for a better approach to the border, and calling on Republicans and Democrats in Congress to come to the table and forge solutions.

Members of the Law Enforcement Immigration Task Force (LEITF) recently participated in a conference call with Department of Homeland Security Officials to discuss the agency’s response to a potential increase in migration at the U.S.-Mexico border, and coordinated efforts to address it.

The call comes as the Biden administration plans to end Title 42, a pandemic-era policy that prevented most migrants from seeking asylum at the border and immediately expelled them to Mexico. The policy has led to an increase in repeat border crossing attempts, put migrants in danger, and massively benefited smugglers and cartels.

“Title 42 and our current border management system have only benefitted smugglers and cartels,” said Andy Harvey, Chief of Police, Pharr, Texas. “By providing additional resources and personnel, infrastructure modernization, and better border technology, Congress can create a more orderly and humane system that protects our nation and respects the dignity of those seeking refuge within our borders.”

“We should not pretend that ending Title 42 is the resolution of long-existing immigration policy failures,” said Sheriff David Hathaway of Santa Cruz County, Arizona. “Ending Title 42 needs to happen, but replacing it with a ‘new plan’ to put procedures in place to deal with the never-ending doom-and-gloom forecast of migration increases is just side-stepping the greater issue: the lack of any meaningful reform to immigration policies for years.”

“Republicans and Democrats in Congress have a shared responsibility to address border security and management. Border communities, asylum-seekers and American taxpayers deserve an immigration system that properly addresses security and humanitarian concerns,” said Orlando Rolón, Chief of Police, Orlando, Florida, and a Law Enforcement Immigration Task Force co-chair. “With the Title 42 policy ending there is a renewed urgency to find a bipartisan path forward. Both parties must come to the table and work together to develop proper and fitting policies to address this historically ongoing, and unresolved, issue in our country.”

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