Gov. Chris Sununu saw firsthand what U.S. Border Patrol and troops deal with to combat illegal drugs and migrants from crossing over the Mexican border during a two-day visit last week.
He saw the tent cities standing next to razor wire fencing along the Rio Grande and talked to agents about trafficking of children by cartels.
“I wouldn’t say it drastically changed my perception of what is happening down there,” Sununu said in a telephone interview Sunday. “It definitely gave me more clarity on what could be done to stem the tide and how resources and policy can better be focused.”
The main goal of the trip Wednesday through Friday was to visit with members of the New Hampshire National Guard in the 941st Military Police Battalion at their McAllen, Texas, headquarters and 237th Military Police Company in Harlingen, Texas, who have been deployed for nine months and have about three months left.
In all, about 170 troops from New Hampshire are serving during the deployment.
Sununu, a Republican who recently announced he will not seek a fifth term, said the troops run three shifts along the southernmost Texas border under hot conditions.
“It’s not an easy job,” Sununu said. “It’s very monotonous, but they’ve been there and they are doing a great job. Morale is high and I just wanted to go down and say thank you. I can’t imagine being down there for nine months.”
Besides meeting with troops, Sununu got a briefing and tour at the Brownsville Border Patrol Station and remote video surveillance sites operated by New Hampshire soldiers. He also met with Texas Department of Safety officials and took a helicopter tour of the Rio Grande.
Sununu said the crisis at the border impacts all 50 states, including deadly fentanyl making its way to New Hampshire. He said President Joe Biden’s efforts to control the flow of illegal drugs and illegal immigrants over the southern border are unsustainable.
“(The Biden) administration has removed all the consequences and added a lot of additional loopholes, which has created a massive amount of pressure on that border,” he said.
Sununu said the concertina (razor) or barbed wire used along part of the border won’t stop people from crossing, especially after traveling thousands of miles from countries all around the world.
“I am a big believer in that you need to invest in the wall and invest in those measures, but that is not going to stop it by any means,” he said. “It allows you to better manage it, but that is not going to stop it.”
Last month, the U.S. Department of Justice put Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on notice for the use of buoy barriers along to the Rio Grande, calling it illegal. Some call the buoys and razor wires “death traps.”
On Friday, Abbott tweeted, “Texas has the sovereign authority to defend our border, under the U.S. Constitution and the Texas Constitution.”
In May, the White House announced efforts to address the humanitarian situation, including expanding legal pathways and modernizing the 2,000-mile shared border.
Many migrants hope to enter legally but backlogs have many looking to cartels to smuggle them across the border, Sununu said.
He said some of the cartels are trafficking children as part of family units seeking asylum.
“It started with really bad policy from the Biden administration that allowed this to happen,” Sununu said. “I don’t know how you put the genie back in the bottle. I know you can do it, but it takes a real will to do it. Right now, it is just a tragedy.”
Focus has also been placed on the Canadian border after a 27-year-old man from Brooklyn, New York, was indicted last month in federal court in connection with smuggling unauthorized immigrants across the Canadian border into New Hampshire.
“They will fly into Montreal and they’ll walk from Montreal right across our border,” Sununu said. “It is happening at a much more aggressive rate and the cartels are smartening up and you’re getting smuggling up there, but it is not nearly the numbers as the southern border, but it is there.”
Sununu said the deployment within the country was very different from serving overseas with troops easily able to travel home during leave or have family come visit.
“For some they thought it was so frustrating because they were so close, but so far away,” Sununu said. “It really is a full-time job and a full-time effort.”
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(c) 2023 The New Hampshire Union Leader
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