U.S. Customs and Border Protection averages 8,000 apprehensions a day along the border with Mexico.
Not all the migrants surrender at the border. In Cochise County, high-speed chases involving human smugglers are commonplace. On its Facebook page, the Cochise County Sheriff's Office showed an SUV it stopped recently after a chase that reached speeds of 124 miles per hour.
In the front seat were a 15-year-old and 14-year-old from Phoenix. They were arrested along with the migrants they were trying to smuggle across the county.
"Arizona sheriffs have been saying repeatedly that more is needed. It's needed now. We can't wait any longer the situation is dire," said Yavapai County Sheriff David Rhodes, who is also the President of the Arizona Sheriff's Association.
Rhodes was glad to hear border security is included in a nearly $105 billion supplemental funding request by the Biden Administration to provide aid to Israel and Ukraine as they fight two wars. Money is also set aside for domestic defense manufacturing and humanitarian assistance.
The border funding is nearly $14 billion. It includes funding for an additional 1,300 border patrol agents, 375 Immigration judge teams, 1,600 asylum officers, 1,000 law enforcement personnel and inspection machines that are said to be "cutting edge" when it comes to detecting fentanyl at ports of entry. "So far so good. I want to make sure Arizona comes out a winner on this and we get a more secure border and at the same time our border communities are made whole," said Arizona Congressman Ruben Gallego.
Gallego has been involved in a weeks-long back and forth with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) over getting funds from the Shelter and Service Program to local border community organizations that provide services related to noncitizen migrant arrivals in the U.S. New York City has received more than $100 million. More than double what FEMA has allocated in Arizona.
"They are putting out a lot of money, making sure the migrants go from there to wherever they're going on their next stop," Congressman Gallego said. "After talking to them they made it very clear they are not being fully compensated for that." The supplemental funding includes $1.4 billion for the Shelter and Services Program.
Getting the funding passed should not be a problem in the Senate. But the House is a different matter where Republicans are still trying to elect a speaker.
Congressman Greg Stanton said "Congress must put partisan differences aside and quickly get to work to meet this critical moment. There's no time to waste." Regarding some of his Republican colleagues, Congressman Gallego said, "They do feel a sense of urgency, but they want to get this right. What's causing this sense of mayhem over there."
Along the Arizona border, all the sheriffs can do is fight the good fight and wait for reinforcements. Sheriff Rhodes knows this better than anyone. "It's going to take a while for that money to flow to the places that it needs to go."
