The basics of immigration, crime and borders for Montana voters

Montana Public Radio is providing listener-driven coverage this election season.

Politicians have a lot to say about drug smuggling at the southern border and whether it is linked to immigration. So we’re going to take a few minutes to hear how Montanans’ views are shaped by political rhetoric and whether they reflect what’s really happening.

MTPR’s Aaron Bolton joins Austin Amestoy to break it all down.

Austin Amestoy: Aaron, what are voters most concerned about here when it comes to the southern border?

Aaron Bolton: This spring, voters on both the right and left told MTPR they are concerned about drugs, especially fentanyl, coming across the border.

Judy Wickum is a 70-year-old retired nurse from Chester. She thinks migrants crossing the border are a problem and says Republicans will reduce that flow with tighter border restrictions.

“It’s sad. Some of them are probably legitimate people who really want to make a new life for themselves. But I think a lot of them are criminals and people who just want to cause trouble.”

Aaron Bolton: That’s a representation of you we often hear from Republican voters. Laura Bufalo is 23 years old and says she supports the Democrats. She lives in Box Elder near the Rocky Boy’s reservation. Buffalo is less concerned about the people crossing the border. She says it’s the locals who are spreading drugs. It scares her.

“The fear that drugs will get in your way, whether you’re entangled in them or surrounded by them.”

Aaron Bolton: She wants more local resources to reduce drug use in her community and help people with addiction.

Austin Amestoy: OK, I hear there are concerns about migrants bringing drugs across the border and a need for more resources to help people with addiction. Do these voter concerns match what we hear from political candidates?

Aaron Bolton: I think you hear talk about the southern border most in the U.S. Senate and Montana Attorney General races. Current Attorney General Austin Knudsen is aligned with voters like Wickum. Here it is Knudsen talks on News Nation.

“Until the federal government gets serious about enforcing that southern border and its immigration policies, we’re going to see more and more of this.”

Aaron Bolton: Knudsen has regularly argued this in court migrants and cartel members bring drugs directly across the border between ports of entry and then sell them within the US.

Democrat Ben Alke, like many Democrats, has moved slightly to the middle and says border security is a problem. Alke on Montana PBS said he would focus on what he could change in Montana.

“We need to do a better job on basic law enforcement that impacts our communities.”

Austin Amestoy: Senator Jon Tester also advocates for border security in his ads.

Aaron Bolton: Yes, here’s an example from earlier this year:

(Narrator) “Jon Tester worked with Republicans, fought to close the border, targeted fentanyl traffickers and added hundreds of new Border Patrol agents.”

Aaron Bolton: The main difference between what you hear from the Tester campaign and the Republicans is that drugs are directly linked to immigrants. Here’s Senate candidate Tim Sheehy on Fox News.

“In some cases, 10,000 to 20,000 migrants come here every day, bringing drugs and bringing crime with them.”

Austin Amestoy: Okay, let’s start with how drugs cross the border. Are drugs being smuggled through tunnels or into the vast open spaces between the entry gates?

Aaron Bolton: The short answer is no. That can happen sometimes, but experts will tell you that drugs are generally smuggled through official border crossings.

Austin Amestoy: Why is that?

Aaron Bolton: I asked that question to Tony Payan, who is director of the Baker Institute’s US-Mexico Center. He says Mexican drug cartels are run like a business. They’re trying to find the cheapest and fastest way to smuggle drugs into the US. It is much faster and more convenient to do this at a border crossing.

The police are present, but it is impossible to search every vehicle.

“Today there are almost 300 million crossings per year,” says Payan. “That means authorities at the border have to process almost a million … (people), depending on the day.”

Aaron Bolton: Payan adds that cartels are constantly finding ways to hide drugs in cargo on semi-trucks in secret compartments or in things like computers.

Austin Amestoy: So that’s the answer to the question of where drugs enter the US. But who brings these drugs across the border?

Aaron Bolton: Here too, cartels’ involvement largely ends on the Mexican side of the border. It is mainly American citizens who transport these drugs.

Experts like Payan point to arrest documents as proof of this. Cartels employ Americans for this work. That’s because they don’t raise as much suspicion as, say, a Mexican national or someone with ties running a drug smuggling operation. It’s not just big trucks that hide drugs. Cartels entice young people or people struggling with addiction to smuggle drugs with the promise of easy money.

Austin Amestoy: So drugs usually cross the border at legal points of entry, and it’s usually American citizens working for cartels who move the drugs. What happens when the drugs reach the US? How do they get to Montana?

Aaron Bolton: Keith Weis works at the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. That’s a partnership between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in the Rocky Mountain states. He says the people smuggling drugs across the country have ties to Mexican cartels.

“That doesn’t necessarily mean that cartels are on the ground and running their operations like you see in Mexico, which can be quite intense, there’s a lot of violence involved.”

Aaron Bolton: Again, he says it is largely American citizens who buy shipments from cartels and traffic drugs in the US. They usually use highways to move shipments quickly across the country.

Austin Amestoy: Okay, so a much more complex picture than what politicians are currently painting. Do experts like Payan say this cat-and-mouse game of seizing drugs at the border or in the US works?

Aaron Bolton: They say it isn’t so. They will tell you that traffickers will always change their tactics to continue transporting drugs.

Payan says politicians often talk about preventing drugs from entering the U.S. at the border. But he says there’s no evidence that more money, border patrol or a wall will do that. Yet that’s where most federal funding goes.

“That’s the main reason why we allocate it (financing) to the supply side. Because if we go to the supply side, who do we have on the other side at the supply point? The bad guy, the foreigner, the border, the Mexican national.”

Aaron Bolton: He says voters can easily latch on to the foreign bad guys argument. Payan is not advocating an end to all law enforcement efforts to seize drugs. But he says a similar amount of resources should be spent on drug abuse prevention and treatment to reduce demand.

Austin Amestoy: I’m curious about the impact of drugs in Montana. What can you tell us?

Aaron Bolton: In 2022, approximately 200 people died from drug overdosesaccording to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These numbers have steadily increased and Fentanyl has caused more of these deaths over time.

But it’s worth noting that these numbers aren’t perfect. The CDC relies on death certificates, which are completed by local officials. This data may be inconsistent.

Austin Amestoy: Do we know who is most affected?

Aaron Bolton: Native Americans experience the highest overdose death rates in the US In 2021, it was 30% higher compared to whites. The same goes for Montana. According to state data, the death rate among native Montanans was twice as high as among whites from 2009 to 2020.. That’s despite only making up about 7% of the state’s population.

Austin Amestoy: That makes me wonder if drug traffickers are targeting indigenous communities.

Aaron Bolton: Experts and tribal officials say yes. Lyle Rutherford, a member of the Blackfeet Nation Tribal Council, says there is a smaller law enforcement presence in many of these communities, making it easier for traffickers to operate.

“If you look at some of the other tribes in the state of Montana, based on their population and land base, you only have one or two officers.”

He says Blackfeet has an agreement with the federal government that allows the tribe to fund 22 officers. But they still have 1.5 million hectares to patrol.

He would like political candidates to talk about how they will provide more law enforcement resources and support communities struggling with addiction.

Austin Amestoy: Aaron, thank you for solving this problem for us.

Aaron Bolton: No problem.