Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels and a coalition of local law enforcement and public officials will hold a public press conference Thursday afternoon to address Border Patrol street releases.
MORE INFORMATION: CCSO deputies prepare for migrant street releases
Dannels says that the Border Patrol’s release of migrants onto the streets of largely-rural Cochise County are “another reflection of the fracture within the DHS infrastructure regarding the security of our southern border.”
According to Dannels, a major concern is a lack of resources given to migrants themselves, as well as Cochise County’s limited resources to provide assistance once migrants are released.
Watch the full livestream here beginning at 2 p.m. or on the KGUN 9 Facebook page
Dannels released the following statement prior to the press conference:
CBP leadership outside the boundaries of Cochise County have notified the CCSO and Emergency Services that street releases will begin today (Wednesday September 13, 2023.) Todays announcement that CBP will begin migrant street releases into Cochise County is just another reflection of the fracture within the DHS infrastructure regarding the security of our southern border. These releases are a direct result of over-capacity by CBP which is forcing these migrant releases into our communities. Sheriff Dannels has expressed his frustration regarding this decision stating, The migrants being released are from outside Cochise County but were bussed to Cochise County, processed, and then released. Cochise County is a rural county with limited resources leaving these migrants vulnerable. In short, this lack of humanitarian consideration poses risk for the migrants. Sheriff DANNELS continued, I applaud the local CBP agents and their leadership for doing all they legally can during this on-going crisis, and I repeat my statement, The intellectual avoidance and abandonment with intended consequences by those leaders in Washington DC reference our southern border continues to be a slippery slope for those doing everything we can to protect our quality of life here in Cochise County!
KGUN 9’s Alexis Ramanjulu wll have a full report in our evening newscasts.