Sheriff Jeff Dirkse’s common-sense solution to California’s immigration mess | Opinion
It’s not an either-or proposition. We can have both a secure border that protects our nation from drugs, thugs and danger and, at the same time, provide deserving immigrants a chance to build a better life in America.
Why is the sheriff of Stanislaus County worried about immigration policy? Because my job — securing the safety of everyone who lives in Stanislaus County — depends on getting this right. Many of the crimes my deputies encounter each day are tied to drugs, from stolen catalytic converters to gang murders to smugglers speeding down our highways with contraband hidden in their cars.
The most common, dangerous drug we encounter is fentanyl. The components of this cheap, synthetic opioid are often produced in China, then shipped to cartel bosses in Mexico. From there, it is carried north across the border.
Mexico’s drug bosses took over illegal immigration operations years ago. Now, smuggling humans into the U.S. is a $13 billion a year business. Farmworkers and laborers pay the cartels around $3,000 to sneak across; someone on a watch list can pay $75,000 or more.
Some of those who can’t afford it agree to carry fentanyl. A single kilogram – about 2 pounds – can make more than 1 million pills selling for $2 a pop. Each of those pills is a potential tragedy.
Fentanyl kills some 20 Californians every day. Last year, 123 of those deaths were in Stanislaus County. If fentanyl can be intercepted at the border, a lot less of this poison will reach our communities.
The question, then, is how to make our border more secure.
The Immigration, Customs and Enforcement Service has 8,700 staffers whose job it is to stop the 210,000 people who tried to sneak across the border in October. The problem is that another 210,000 people tried to get across in September and another 200,000 in November with tens of thousands more every month since. We need more agents.
Physical barriers have a place, but costly walls and hardened fences have a short shelf life. Smugglers tunnel under, climb over or just go around them. While barriers are useful at the most common crossings, that usefulness diminishes the farther they are placed from watchful eyes.
A better way
There’s a better solution: Make it easier for deserving people to enter America legally.
It’s not a new idea. Nearly a century ago, ambitious Mexican workers helped us work out of the Great Depression. When farmers needed help growing food during World War II, we welcomed thousands of Mexican workers to our nation. By the 1960s, Mexican workers in the Bracero Program had helped turn California into an agricultural empire that still feeds the world.
Those without criminal records who want to build houses, practice medicine, plant and harvest crops should have a safe, legal way to enter. Those already here — paying taxes, contributing to our communities — should be given an opportunity to clear up any issues about their entry.
If you can legally walk through a border crossing, you won’t be tempted to sneak in carrying drugs. If fewer people are trying to cross illegally, border-security agents can concentrate on stopping smugglers and criminals.
The first step is to secure the border with more agents, better technology and even barriers where they make sense. But we must commit to the second step — making it easier for good people to come here for waiting jobs.
It will take time, money and cooperation with other nations to create a system that allows us to verify who is safe to enter our homeland. But the payoff is a more secure and less dangerous border, and safer communities throughout America.
There are two important components of this issue, and both must be solved. Elected representatives — Republicans and Democrats — must work together to solve this problem. Or it won’t get solved.
Jeff Dirkse has been sheriff of Stanislaus County since 2019.
