NE Valley Times

Hank Matthew, a Scottsdale resident and member of the St. Bernard of Clairvaux's parish, said 'immigration is a broad' and 'important issue,' raising concerns about its impacts on crime and security

"Immigration is a very important issue at the national, state, and local levels," Matthew said. "Just like our economy, immigration is a broad subject that is much deeper than the millions of immigrants who have illegally crossed our border every year for the last three years. Who are these people? Gang members from Central America? Subversives from China? So far this year, 24,214 people from China have crossed our border. That’s up 8,000% from 2021. China has likely sent many of them here. Crime in Arizona has been rising in unusual locations; Maricopa County’s east valley, Yuma, Flagstaff, and Tucson, and a great deal of this can likely be linked to illegal immigration."

Since President Joe Biden took office in 2021, there have been over 9.7 million illegal crossings into the U.S. reported by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Illegal apprehension records have been broken every year during the Biden administration, according to an April report from the Center Square. In fiscal year 2021, the 1.9 million illegal border crossings reported was a record high, the highest number in American history at that point. The record was broken in both fiscal year 2022 and again in fiscal year 2023, when 2.7 million and 3.2 million crossings were reported. None of the record crossing numbers include “gotaways,” the individuals that evaded capture or notice at the border. 

“To be clear, we never have and never will endorse Biden,” the U.S. Border Patrol Union posted on X. 

A June poll released by American Greatness reported that 59% of Arizona voters think that the Biden administration has not spent enough time addressing illegal immigration. Only 24 percent of respondents said that Biden was dedicating "the right amount" of time on addressing the issue. 

“In my 40 years of working this border, watching this border, I’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly," Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels told League of American Workers (LAW) President Steve Cortes in the new documentary, What's Behind the Biden Border Crisis? Cortes Investigates. "This is the ugliest it’s ever been."

During fiscal year 2024 to date, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has arrested 35,178 illegal aliens who have previous criminal convictions or who are wanted by law enforcement, according to an analysis by Tucson Standard.

13.828 of these arrests have been made by the U.S. Border Patrol, and 21,350 of these arrests have been made by the CBP’s Office of Field Operations. The CBP’s 2024 fiscal year runs from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024.