The reason the number of people coming across the border is a great concern is that we have no idea who they are, which creates a public safety risk, says the head of the Texas Border Sheriff's Coalition.
"The biggest problem is a person who crosses between a port of entry — we have no idea who that person is or what they represent," Don Reay told J.D. Hayworth and Francesca Page on "America's Forum" on
Newsmax TV Wednesday.
Story continues below video.
Note: Watch Newsmax TV now on
DIRECTV Ch. 349 and
DISH Ch. 223
Get Newsmax TV on your cable system –
Click Here Now
"It is the concern for the unknown and the protection of our citizens and our inhabitants who live along the border," Reay explained. "We won't protect all of those people until you encounter somebody, law enforcement does, you have no idea what they are."
"Are they looking for work? Are they a terrorist?" he asked.
"We now have proof of people from terrorist supporting countries coming into our nation," he said.
"We know some are already here, and we also are very concerned that the use of children may very well be a diversion," he added.
In response to the lack of action by Congress, Reay says that the Texas Border Sheriff's Coalition along with the National Sheriff's Association, the Western States Sheriffs' Association, the Sheriffs' Association of Texas and the Southwestern Border Sheriff's Coalition has put together a position paper offering a
plan for combating the border crisis.
"Our plan is very simple — it's to control this spiraling out of control immigration issue from the standpoint of public safety because people are taking advantage of the open border that we have — with illegal drugs, exploitation of people, movement of criminals across the border, and of course, the highlight this summer was a humanitarian effort dealing with unattended children," he explained.
"We also talk about partnerships in this paper where we have to have partnerships with our federal partners, our state partners, and of course all the local agencies with the sheriffs being at the fore of that in their individual counties," he said.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.