It has never been more safe. It has never posed less
of an immediate risk or hazard to Americans. It has a lot to do with the brave men and women in the United States
Border Patrol, those who also serve in police departments like ours in
El Paso, in sheriff's departments like those under the command of
Sheriff Richard Wiles in El Paso County. It has a lot to do with the
immigrant populations who live in the communities along the U.S.-Mexico
border who are such a part of our safety because they are striving to
get ahead, to keep out of trouble, to learn, to study, to do better, to
contribute to, participate in, and reap the benefits of the American
Dream. But we are also safe because the country of Mexico has made a
commitment to help keep us safe. When we are concerned about
transnational criminal organizations coming from the three most
dangerous countries in the world today--El Salvador, Guatemala,
Honduras--we have a partner in Mexico, who checks their advance at
Mexico's southern border, who ensures, when we have the greatest
humanitarian crisis this hemisphere has ever seen because of the
brutality and violence that we see in those northern triangle countries
in Central America, that Mexico is our partner in helping to provide
shelter, sustenance, and aid to those frightened young children leaving
the northern triangle. Some still make their way to the United States and present
themselves, not trying to evade detection, but present themselves to
Border Patrol agents and Customs officers at our ports of entry. No
wall could ever keep them out. But as many as are coming from Central America today, we have record
low levels of northbound migration and asylum-seeking attempts crossing
the U.S.-Mexico border. The number last year was somewhere around
400,000 northbound apprehensions. The number 16 years ago was 1.6
million northbound apprehensions.
Keywords matched
asylum-seeking Border Patrol immigrant