(NewsNation) — As drug cartels exploit certain parts of the southern border to smuggle illegal drugs into the U.S., NewsNation got an exclusive look into how Border Patrol agents are tackling the problem.
NewsNation’s ride-along with Gregory Bovino, Border Patrol’s chief in El Centro, California, began with a strategic response to a U.S. citizen and two suspected guides from Mexico, all allegedly trying to smuggle an immigrant across the border.
“It can happen multiple times a day, even in 118-degree heat, they’ll cross the border and load up like what you saw today,” Bovino said.
Besides human smuggling, drugs are also being seized every day at the nation’s busiest checkpoint for hard narcotics. The drugs that make it through the El Centro port and past the checkpoints typically end up in the hands and homes of Americans.
A load of fentanyl was spotted on cameras in El Centro but local agents weren’t able to respond in time — so they flagged officials in Arizona, in conjunction with the Tucson sector. The operation succeeded in getting 120 pounds of fentanyl off the streets.
Now, Bovino is taking the fight to the streets by way of Central Violations Bureau tickets, which allows agents to charge individuals for nearly any crime, including fentanyl use. This would put the power directly in the hands of local law enforcement agents, who are on their own when it comes to combating human and drug smuggling.
For now, local law enforcement agents say, California law SB54 is holding back officers from fully tackling human and drug smuggling along the border. Under the law, local officers cannot respond to or cite for anything immigration-related, a fact that cartels are exploiting.
“We don’t even know how many people are getting away with this. I wish there was a way to keep track, but we cannot. With California law, it’s impossible to do so unless you violate the law, which we’re not going to do. So we need to stay within our parameters,” Brawley Police Chief Jimmy Duran told NewsNation.
This is a far cry from what is happening in other border sectors, where local, state and federal law enforcement work in lockstep to tackle drug smuggling.
“Removing that collaboration, it demoralizes you … as a law enforcement agency because you’re trying to do your public service and public safety, and it’s just discouraging sometimes,” said Sherriff Fred Miramontes of Imperial County, California.