Nine sheriffs from across the country trekked to the nation’s capital to deliver a strong plea to lawmakers: Secure the U.S. border from Mexico’s terroristic drug cartels.
“This is about saving America,” Frederick County, Md., Sheriff Chuck Jenkins said during a panel discussion on Wednesday in the House Rayburn Building, according to
CNSNews.com. “This is about public safety and national security.”
The sheriffs were invited to present their views by the Center for Immigration Studies, which finds that the immigrant population has doubled in the United States since 1990. Roughly one-fourth of the 40 million immigrants in the country as of 2010 are thought to be illegal aliens.
“I don’t see the Mexican drug cartels as a gang,” testified Sam Page, sheriff of Rockingham County, N.C. “I see them as a terrorist organization.”
Mexican cartels operate in an estimated 200 U.S. cities, according to the Department of Justice National Drug Intelligence Center’s 2009 data.
“Our citizens are tired of being victimized,” said Sheriff Terry Johnson of Alamance County, N.C. “I am tired as a law enforcement officer representing and protecting those citizens that are being victimized.”
Alabama led the United States in immigrant population growth over the past 10 years with 92 percent. It was followed by South Carolina with 88 percent, Tennessee with 82 percent, Arkansas with 79 percent, Kentucky at 75 percent, and North Carolina at 67 percent.
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