Sheriffs: ‘California is open territory for the cartel to do whatever it wants’

During a recent U.S. House Judiciary Committee hearing on victims’ perspectives, Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said, “When it comes to open borders and the impact of illegal immigration in California, I have a front-row seat to seeing the devastation that can cause.”

Boudreaux is one of several sheriffs in the state who are not supporting Harris for president, he said after their photo was used in one of her campaign ads.

He then described cases in the Central Valley related to the border crisis. The region is known as the agricultural heartland of California and has been called the “greatest breadbasket of the world” because it produces so much food, he said. The region also has a long history of illegal immigration, with an estimated 80 percent of farm workers in the country illegally, he said. With illegal immigration comes crime, and that has drained law enforcement resources, he said.

“When it comes to our open border, the Central Valley sits at the foot of the mountain and overlooks an avalanche. We are faced with a barrage of violent criminals, events, and drug flows from the border into our communities. The free flow of illegal and deadly drugs, primarily fentanyl, has turned the corridors of Highway 99 and Interstate 5 into two highways of death, unleashing unspeakable carnage.”

He described how agents and dogs have been killed by criminal illegal aliens who have been deported multiple times after committing multiple crimes in other states. He also described multiple agency operations in several counties that targeted drug trafficking, revealing how Tulare County has become a hub for the Sinaloa cartel. Suspected cartel members they interviewed told them that under the Biden-Harris administration, “it’s easier now in the last three years than it’s ever been in the drug organization’s history to smuggle illegal drugs across the border into the United States.”

He also described the arrests of illegal aliens operating out of Washington state who were allegedly transporting fentanyl for the Mexican cartel “all the way down the southern border to Washington.” Arrested and held on multiple charges, they were released from jail the next day and have never been found.

“Their release was a slap in the face to the criminal justice system and a direct result of failed immigration policies and an open border,” he said. California’s sanctuary law, SB54, prohibits law enforcement from cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs enforcement (ICE). As a result, “there are no consequences for their actions. California has essentially become an open field for the cartel to do whatever it wants.”

Mexican cartels “are infiltrating our communities, unleashing incredible violence and taking the lives of innocent people,” he continued, describing an execution-style killing of a family including a 16-year-old mother and her 10-month-old baby, The Center Square reported last year.

Biden-Harris policies have “created a major crisis in California and America. We are seeing murders, marijuana cultivation, drug and human trafficking, financial scams, agricultural crime, robberies and much more. The rest of the world is taking advantage of the current policies regarding our border, recognizing that the administration has taken away the foundation of legal immigration. Allowing an unsecured border has emboldened the world to violate immigration laws, which results,” he said. The result is that local law enforcement is overwhelmed and will soon be unable to “preserve and maintain peace in our communities.”

During another Judiciary Committee hearing on California’s prospects, Riverside County Sheriff’s Deputy Don Sharp said his county “has suffered the devastating consequences of a weak border that this administration has approved.”

Sharp, who has worked in drug enforcement for more than a decade, said: “The catastrophic impact that cartels have on our communities is and has always been abundantly clear. Our communities are facing an incredible influx of fentanyl and fentanyl-laced drugs; emergency personnel are responding to dozens of overdoses and overdose deaths every day.”

“The flood of deadly fentanyl onto our streets is overwhelming and is only made possible by the complete border security failure of the current administration,” he said. Because Border Patrol agents are overwhelmed by processing illegal aliens into the country instead of patrolling for bad actors in the field, “the border is wide open.” This results in “larger shipments of drugs and human beings. The risk of detection and loss of illegal contraband is reduced, and the reduced risk is far worth the reward for cartels and criminals.”

In contrast, he said, when border security is strong and robust, they see “smaller loads and more fearsome cartels, as they should when they break our laws and harm society.”

The Riverside County Sheriff’s narcotics unit alone seized a record 359 pounds of fentanyl and more than 2.3 million fentanyl pills in 2023, he said, enough to kill the county’s entire population. That doesn’t include the amount of fentanyl seized by other agencies.

“This is a staggering statistic of poison seized. What have we missed? We know we have missed plenty. We wish the current administration understood the full impact of their actions.”

He blamed both California politicians and the state for the explosion in border crime. “I’m tired of fighting the deep-rooted flawed changes they’re pushing through,” he said. “Our state and nation matter, and our citizens fear the consequences of an open border. The unknown number of terrorists and bad actors coming in unchecked is illuminating and terrifying. It puts our county and our communities at risk.”

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