Rrecently, I made my second trip down to the Southern border this year in order to get an update from the people on the front lines. I visited with different people including the Hudspeth County Sheriff, the Culberson County Sheriff, Texas Department of Public Safety Regional Commander of Region IV, and EPIC . They all have different roles to play but their message was the same: we are doing what we can with what we’ve got….but we need more.

I started off my trip meeting with Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West in Sierra Blanca, Texas. He patrols the huge county with only himself and 15 deputies. I was impressed by the willingness of this man to do his job and protect the US citizens who live along the border despite being outmanned and outgunned by the drug cartels operating on the other side.

I also met with Culberson County Sheriff Oscar Carillo who told me about the current situation at the border and explained how border violence including high speed car chases often end in his county and his small force ends up footing the bill.

Sheriff Arvin West shows me the thousands of pounds of illegal drugs seized at the Sierra Blanca checkpoint. He told me how the federal government no longer prosecutes marijuana possession cases from the Sierra Blanca checkpoint unless they are over 50lbs.

Sheriff West is willing to prosecute these cases but doesn’t have the resources to do so. He asks that the federal government either take the cases or have Hudspeth county prosecute and allow them to be reimbursed.

West thinks that this encourages traffickers if they know that they will face little or no repercussions if they are found with under 50lbs of drugs.

I also took a bit to chat with a few Hudspeth County Deputies. These men are always at the ready.

Then I met with Carey Matthews, Texas Department of Public Safety Regional Commander of Region IV. He explained to me the DPS operations in the El Paso sector and how DPS coordinated with and assists the federal assets in the area.

Then I boarded a Texas Department of Public Safety surveillance plane to observe the conditions along the US/Mexico border in El Paso and Hudspeth counties.

View of US/Mexico border in Hudspeth County.

Finally, I met with the president of the El Paso Intelligence center (EPIC).

Overall it was a jam packed, two day visit filled with valuable information for me to bring back to Washington. Many politicians and pundits talk border security, but it is one thing to actually see the border first hand. I would encourage many in Washington to pay a visit to the southern border. The situation on the border has improved some, but there is a very long way to go. The federal government should be taking the lead on border security, not leaving it up to Texas to pick up the slack. Until they do, our state is doing a great job. In Washington, we need to send them more resources, more equipment, and more funds to do even more.

And that’s just the way it is.