Rep. Yvette Herrell (R-N.M.) represents the 2nd Congressional District of New Mexico, which covers a sizeable portion of the U.S.-Mexico border. Herrell went into detail with me about the Biden administration’s inaction at the border, and what her constituents are facing with the crisis.
Please note that this interview has been edited for grammar, length, and clarity.
Cameron Arcand: What actions are you currently taking at the congressional level to pressure the Biden administration and/or the state of New Mexico on this crisis?
Rep. Yvette Herrell: Great question. My district takes up the entire southern border in New Mexico. So for over a year now, we’ve been pressing on the Biden administration to reinstate the Title 42 health order that President Trump had in play as well as “Remain In Mexico”.
In fact, we’ve introduced the PAUSE Act, which would’ve kept Title 42. For those that don’t know exactly what Title 42 is, it was a protective health order that President Trump put into play while we were under pandemic conditions. It gave the Border Patrol agents the ability to do quick processing right on the border, then expel people who were trying to come into our country illegally. Expel them into either Canada or Mexico. That was largely put into play because of the pandemic.
And of course, “Remain In Mexico.” We’ve pushed on that to have people who are trying to get here illegally to remain in Mexico until we can get our processing figured out, until we can get our immigration policies figured out, but that was working under the Trump administration.
Finally, as it relates to New Mexico, obviously we’ve really beat the drum on how critical national security is with securing the border. But we’ve asked our governor to deploy the National Guard down to the border in order to help with boots on the ground, help backfill some of the openings we’re seeing down there. We’re seeing our agents brought into the processing centers, spending more time there than they actually are out on the ground patrolling the border.
CA: I’m based in Phoenix, Ariz., and one thing that I always notice when I’m out is these big signs that say, “One pill can kill.” A big part of the issue happening at the border is drug trafficking, particularly fentanyl. I was wondering if you could dive into what you know about the issue right now.
YH: I appreciate these questions because I never get tired of talking about just how critical this is and how much of a crisis it is. I often say every state is a border state by virtue of the number of drugs coming up through the southern border, specifically, like you mentioned, fentanyl. We know that the CBP agents seized [41% more] fentanyl in 2021 versus 2020.
We understand now that fentanyl is the number one killer in overdoses among adults between the ages of 18 and 45. I work with many members from Texas, obviously, Arizona, California, New Mexico — well, I’m actually the only one in New Mexico talking about this — but we’re constantly trying to ring the bell and draw attention to what is happening in New Mexico.
Unlike what we see sometimes on TV over in West Texas, where you’ll see families coming, a lot of children. They’re making their way through. What we’re seeing in New Mexico is the coyotes, the drug runners, the human smugglers. They are all in camouflage gear, they’re coming across our farms and ranches down on the border.
Now we’ve seen a huge uptick in traffic with drugs and people through areas that we haven’t seen before, in terms of that crossing. I honestly invited the vice president, as our borders are down to [Mexico], so that she could understand what the reality is for people who live on the border. It’s kind of “outta sight, outta mind” for some, but you have to remember, we have communities and farms that have been there for generations where the families cannot go and leave their children alone. They cannot go out to the barn to check livestock without carrying a firearm.
They are waking up to cut fence lines, stolen vehicles, loss of livestock, water lines being cut. As American citizens, they should not have to be fearful of or worry about living in a free country like the United States of America.
There’s no insurance policy for that. This loss of livelihood or personal property, property damage, that isn’t something that the Johnson family can say, “Hey, we’re gonna turn in a claim and try to get reimbursed for this stolen vehicle or this, this stretch of fencing that we’re gonna have to replace.” I’m talking about their interior fences on their ranches. So there’s a lot more to this. I introduced a bill and said, “Hey, let’s be thankful and think about our families and communities that live on the border,” and let’s set up reimbursement for those who lose property because of the open border policies that are now plaguing our nation.
CA: I think it’s important that you brought up the fact that there is no insurance policy for this. I think these people are being really hurt. And then you mentioned Kamala Harris, too, who arguably is just an empty pantsuit when we talk about her border czar role. They’re sending her over to Europe now and all these different places — she now has been to Europe.
YH: Thank you for saying that. I spoke somewhere the other day and I said, “Unfortunately, the only thing that the Biden administration can actually brag on that they actually did with complete precision is they finally got Kamala Harris over to Europe, with the onslaught of this Ukraine–Russia situation. But here’s the thing: over last year, I met with seven ambassadors from around the Southern hemisphere, mostly the Northern Triangle, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, etc. I’ve taken a number of trips myself to the New Mexico border. I’ve brought nine members from the Oversight Committee down to the Johnson ranch, to the sanitary supportive entry to Columbus so they can see what New Mexico sees as it relates to this border crisis. But sadly, we’re not even talking about the long-term impacts. School systems — classroom size, the ability to even take on these additional children.
I think what has been most surprising is many people in the 2nd Congressional district, who live in and around the border and even away from the border, have voiced to me that they’re very disappointed that they went through the legal process to get here legally because they wanted the opportunity to improve their life.
They want to stand for America and American values and they took in some cases up to 10 years to get their paperwork processed and wait in line. Now they see that we’ve just got this open border policy going on. People are coming in and for, for what reasons, we do not know who’s coming into our country. We do not know. We’ve hamstrung the ability of Border Patrol and ICE and others to do their jobs.
[Biden] basically ran on opening the border and since he took office, he’s done nothing to slow down the flow or to deter people from coming here, and word like that travels so quickly. I’m sure you know, especially living in Arizona, that is a word that travels around the globe.
CA: Oh, it’s like wildfire. People think they’re gonna be easy on them. So they just show up here like it’s nobody’s business.
YH: Yep. I want to be very clear because I want people to understand we are not just talking about people coming from Mexico. We’re not talking about just south of the border in New Mexico or Arizona, the United States, we’re talking about a global crisis, because now we have had people come into our country illegally from over 150 countries. This is no longer a handful of people coming across the southern border. This is truly a global migration. We’ve asked Mayorkas to do a better job, to be more transparent, to help us get more boots on the ground.
We have been so disgusted with the way that the border crisis has been handled, that I myself have signed onto letters asking for his resignation and asking for the impeachment of Mayorkas, because this has just been handled horribly. Just some weeks ago he made the comment that the greatest threat to the American people is global warming and climate change. I think that is absolutely a misrepresentation of what’s happening in the real world right now.
CA: Is there anything else you wanted to mention before we close this out?
YH: What I would remind people is, it was interesting at the State of the union that President Biden said, “We need to secure the border.” Of course, music to my ears and probably a bunch of other members, but that’s all he said; there wasn’t really a path forward. He said it, but then he went right back into something else, [immigration] reform. So people don’t understand sometimes that there’s a big difference between securing the border, national security, and protecting American citizens and immigration reform. We get two separate things happening here. Until we can get a handle on this border crisis and secure the border and really ensure that we’re protecting Americans, then we need to take a hard look at how can we improve immigration policies. It’s impossible to have that conversation until we have a secure border and we can know who’s coming in.
Let’s have some checks and balances for vetting and make sure we’re doing right by the people of America. I believe that more people understand the crises, cause it’s been always outta sight, outta mind. I said that earlier, but now we’re seeing it. You don’t have to live down here to be a border state. I appreciate the opportunity to get to visit with you and continue to share my passion for the importance of securing our border.
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