Local officials describe cartel operations to The Epoch Times.
COCHISE COUNTY—On the U.S. side of the southern border, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) stood before a gap—a hole in the border wall—as he prepared to speak.
As the land rose behind him, the thin, rust-brown line separating the United States from Mexico blinked out: wall, wall, wall, then nothing at all.
“We see the border wall sitting here, waiting to be completed behind us,” Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee, said during his Aug. 1 trip to a part of rural Cochise County south of Sierra Vista.
Unused wall material was stacked up nearby, looking every bit the casualty of partisan politics.
President Joe Biden halted wall construction on day one through an executive order.
So far during the 2024 fiscal year, the Tucson Border Patrol Sector has been the busiest for illegal crossings along the southern border.
Border agents have apprehended nearly 429,000 illegal immigrants from Oct. 1, 2023, through June 2024, according to Customs and Border Protection data. The San Diego Sector came in second with a recorded 281,000 encounters over the same period.
In early June, Biden signed another executive order to limit asylum applications once the average daily encounters of illegal immigrants reached 2,500. Asylum requests would resume once encounters fell to a 1,500 per day average.
An internal memo from the U.S. Border Patrol developed in connection with that policy painted a more complicated picture. The leaked document told agents to release single adults from many Eastern and Western hemisphere countries with future court dates and outlined a similar policy for family units from many countries.State Sen. Dave Gowan, a Republican lawmaker from the area, pointed to a spot in the distance next to the wall on the Mexican side.
“That’s where a cartel guy—he’s a spotter—he’d be sitting there,” the lawmaker said, adding that he doesn’t think anyone would be there now, given the security presence for Vance’s visit.
That was when Robert Watkins, commander at the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office, walked over. He confirmed Gowan’s account of the cartel spotter activity to The Epoch Times.
“The media needs to tell the truth, and Kamala Harris needs to change course on this crazy border mess,” Vance said during his speech. Harris is now the likely Democratic presidential nominee after Biden dropped out of the race on July 21 under pressure from his party.
Vance called for the reinstatement of the Remain in Mexico immigration policy and an end to the “catch and release” of illegal immigrants. Former President Donald Trump, now Vance’s GOP running mate, introduced the Remain in Mexico policy and directed his administration to end catch and release during his term.
Vance visited the southern border a day after holding a rally in Glendale, Arizona, outside Phoenix. That rally was scheduled a day after the battleground state’s July 30 primary, in which Kari Lake won the GOP Senate primary. Businessman Abe Hamadeh defeated venture capitalist Blake Masters in the House primary in the race to succeed retiring Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.).
Before briefly speaking to the media, Vance walked a section of the wall with Watkins and other locals concerned about the influx of illegal immigrants and drugs.
Local rancher John Ladd spoke with The Epoch Times before taking the stage. He said Vance’s visit was going to be held on his ranch, “and then it rained last night and flooded everything.”
A source familiar with the Trump campaign confirmed that monsoon season had forced the last-minute change.
“This administration has hamstrung the Border Patrol so they can’t patrol the border,” Ladd said.
