AMAC Exclusive by Seamus Brennan
Vice President Kamala Harris’s visit to El Paso, Texas today was probably not intended to showcase the success of the Trump administration’s immigration and border enforcement policies. But Harris has nevertheless picked the perfect city from which to learn what policies have actually worked to secure the border. The only way she could learn more about the border than by choosing to go to El Paso would be if she had invited former President Trump to join her.
Harris may not know it, but El Paso has played a definitive role in the decades-long fight to curb illegal immigration along the U.S. southern border stretching all the way back to when the city was the initial headquarters of U.S. Border Patrol.
Under the deportation policies of the early 1990s, Border Patrol agents apprehended as many aliens as they could, but even those deported generally found ways to make it back across the border in the following days and weeks. Observing the ineffectiveness of this approach, Silvestre Reyes, then-Chief of the El Paso Sector of Border Patrol, decided that deterring illegal entry into the country altogether was a more efficient strategy than focusing solely on apprehensions.
“They thought I was crazy,” Reyes said. “But I told them: ‘I’m not interested in apprehensions. I’m not interested in generating numbers. I’m interested in controlling the border.’”
Under Reyes’s leadership, Border Patrol’s Operation Hold the Line increased the volume of border agents and dramatically improved the physical barriers already in place in El Paso starting in 1993. The Operation began as a 20-mile blockade of 400 agents and vehicles every 100 yards along the border on each side of El Paso. It established the border control strategy that influences our nation’s immigration policies to this day.
As a result of Reyes’s groundbreaking initiative, border apprehensions dropped from nearly 300,000 to under 80,000 per year—culminating in over a 70 percent reduction. With the implementation of Operation Hold the Line, Reyes not only proved to his city, his state, and his country that borders can in fact be secured, but also provided the model for border security and immigration policies for years and decades to come. Following the success of the Operation, Congress allocated funds to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service so that Reyes’s “extremely effective border patrol model” could be replicated in other parts of the country.
Reyes was later elected to Congress, where he served eight consecutive terms as a Democrat and as the first Latino to represent El Paso.
In the 13 years after Operation Hold the Line was implemented, violent crime dropped by more than 34 percent. Since 1993, the year the Operation was put into effect, illegal immigration dropped 95 percent in the area over the course of 22 years. Additionally, since fencing in the region was completed, the city’s drug smuggling fell considerably, with marijuana and cocaine seizures cut in half.
During the Trump Administration, El Paso rose to become one of America’s safest cities—even in spite of its nearness to the border and close proximity to Juarez, Mexico, one of the most dangerous cities in the world. In 2019, Juarez had 1,499 murders, while El Paso only had 40. Since El Paso’s border barrier was completed, motor vehicle thefts plummeted by 60 percent. Burglary cases similarly decreased from 7,655 in 1993 to 1,297 in 2017.
When President Trump left office, El Paso had 131 miles of fully constructed border wall and experienced an overwhelming cutback in drug and smuggling activities in places where new border wall had been constructed. In two of U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s El Paso zones, apprehensions decreased by as much as 80 percent from the first half of fiscal year 2020 to its second half.
By visiting El Paso today, Vice President Harris has unwittingly recognized the Trump Administration’s success in securing our border. Through the innovation of Operation Hold the Line and the policies and strategies it yielded, El Paso set the gold standard for a city that knows how to secure its borders and protect its communities—and other cities and states ought to follow its example. The Sun City was the perfect place for Harris to visit, but not for the reasons she thinks: El Paso is an ideal place not to downplay a crisis, but to show the country how to avert one. Leaders and elected officials should follow Silvestre Reyes’s lead and enact policies and systems that secure the border in ways that work.
In the end, the Vice President’s visit today may not have succeeded in anything other than inadvertently highlighting the effectiveness of the border policies she ran against. Let’s hope the rest of the nation can see what she couldn’t.
For 5 hours, Photo Op then off to LA CA, like Biden Admin cares
This is a waste of time, she wants the border open and is mocking the whole crisis. They want illegals here, why so hard for people to get that?
I believe all of these impressive statistics, but somebody ought to clue our dense Veep in. I’m sure she hasn’t made the wall connection. She just figured that it’s a low traffic area and will look contained for the cameras. She is counting on the fact that many people think “the border” has equal volume from east to west. The media will congratulate her for just showing up! Ha! Trump will tour the overwhelmed areas and talk to those who are truly in the trenches.
VP Kamala Harris is so inept that it is hard to describe her. She is in a safe place in El Paso. This is a photo op and nothing else.
It will be broadcast as “what crisis’, there is no problem here! Just another BS story for the media to spew.
But will she have a clue?
“Successes ?” “Of the Trump administration ?” LOL. Biden did it all, just ask him, Kumala, and the legacy media. Snark, snark.
Good job in picking a city where the wall is working.
All true, all good, and all undeniable evidence that Trump was right all along. But you’re never going to hear any of this from the Democrats, the MSM, social media or any large platform source. The truth has been ‘Canceled’. Which leaves the only alternative. A Lie!
K. Harris does not care about what goes on at the boarder. She does not care about human trafficking, she does not care about boarder laws to protect Americans, she does not care about illegal drugs entering the country, she does not care about criminals entering the country, she does not care about other terrorists entering the country, she does not care about juveniles coming to the United States alone, she does not care about the crime at the boarder affecting people in the boarder states…..she does not care about anything to do with the boarder and the security of our country. Her appearance there was just a photo opportunity and nothing more. Her phony ploy to appear interested was because Donald Trump said he was going there. Too bad he could not get to the board the day before. The people of the United States know all of this, and she will still be looked upon as an ineffective administrative lightweight anyway the fake media spins the news.
The Republicans have a secret weapon. It’s called “Kamala Harris”.
Now it’s clear why the Veep is reluctant to visit the border. She knew she would be stepping into a pile of deep doo-doo.
There was a character long ago in Li’l Abner who had a black cloud hanging over his head and wherever he went disaster resulted.
Enough said.
She went to a place she knew she would be relatively safe and not see anything involving Trump’s victories or the truth about the invasion from South & Central America. She went to where there was the least number of people crossing the border, no children in the cages & homes where the Demo/Marxists put them. Since it is hot in El Paso, she will soon be leaving on her air conditioned jet to take her back to her Cushy office in Washington where she can once again put her head back in the sand and work on the Socialist agenda of a one world government. This woman is so wicked and evil she makes Hillary look like Mother Theresa.
Harris’ trip to El Paso is like had President Bush visited Albany N.Y. instead of the site of 9/11. Accomplishes nothing!
Swerving into the truth is a hazard for any Democrat in a post Trump America. His simplicity and logic made Governing look so easy,, America first second and third.
Harris was called to return to California because “All the horseman knew her!”
If Biden hadn’t rescinded President Trumps policies, we would NOT be in a crisis. Biden’s decision to ‘rub out’ those policies was pure spite. He hates President Trump so much he wants to undo every good thing he did and to hell with how bad it hurts our country and her citizens. What a patriot!!! Those who voted for him must be so proud.
You can’t fix stupid. Biden and Harris remind me more and more of the laurel and hardy comedy team. HAHAHAH They get more HILARIOUS with each schtick!!!!
She should ride horseback, at night with the agents who go out and come face to face with the true face of illegal immigration and smuggling. visiting El Paso in air conditioned comfort isn’t the same as going out on the ground.
Kamala Harris is incompetent and you can’t fix stupdity.
Symptoms of: loose configuration of a nonexistent government. Months & months of silence on the subject of immigration. No Press Conferences. No journalists being allowed to question regarding immigration policy. And, question what? With no concrete policies in place; for policing anything. This was preceded by: initially demonizing the police in this country. This resulted in the early retirement of police, police quitting, and little police recruitment. Guess, one of the reasons we have an elevation of crime in this country?
She knew exactly what she was doing. Well let us say her staff knew exactly where to show up to back up her statement that there was no problem. It is a total political sham.
The no-talent, no-accomplishment Veep representing her no-talent, no-accomplishment (other than the racist Crime Bill) boss will not talk to the ranchers and citizens whose property is being stolen vandalized, and overrun. She’ll accumulate a few living props with hard-luck stories instead.
Harris reveals in her choice to go to El Paso how truly inept and stupid the Biden/Harris administration is.
Being a Texan, I wake up every morning thanking God for a great Governor, the great Governor Greg Abbott. He is putting up the money to finish the wall on our southern border. If we had to wait on our President and lazy uncaring Pamela Harris we would be flodd with unwanted illegals every day. They are spreading Covid and costing us millions of dollars every day. Plus our over worked border patrol agents and the unappreciated Ice agents. The Florida Governor had been of more help to us than the entire Democrat party. What a waste we have in Washington D.C. now. A proud Texan
Harris won’t, of course, acknowledge anything about El Paso’s border wall, or the amazing drop in illegal immigration and crime in the city and environs since 1993. That is definitely too much to ask of Radical Progressives, for whom nothing exists but their own warped beliefs.
I would like to demand that prior to biden, harris or pelosi begin speaking, the theme music from Looney Tunes be played
When are the American people going to realize that this administration is a bunch of incompetent idiots?
Every person on the left is a communist.
Ask Kamala why her boss’ eyes are wide open and no longer squinty. Did she send message back to him that walls work?
This piece is an excellent example of history as it should be taught.
It appears Harris is “unwittingly” doing whatever she is doing. She is another who gives the impression of being a puppet. What happens to her if whoever has “the power” decides she is not OK?????
So, will lame stream media be pointing this out or just cover for her as always?
Even IF you pointed this out to Kamala, with her mental capabilities she couldn’t grasp the obvious success staring her in the face.
Just like CNN reporter Jim Acosta. He was at the border where the fence was completed and reported that he didn’t see people of drugs crossing the border. In the mean time the wall is in the background the whole time he was on camera. President Trump pointed out that Acosta proved that walls do work.
Why is it that EVERY White country is FORCED to accept unlimited third-world immigration, assimilation, and why is it that ONLY White countries are FORCED to become multicultural?
Nobody asks that of any non-White country.
Multiculturalism is just a code word for White Genocide.
You can rest assured that the V.P. will tout the “lack of crisis” agenda, never mind the fact that
El Paso is historically, a prime example of working strategy against illegal immigration, etc. The visit will be
made into political confetti and showered over the airways as a sign of the successes of the present
administration and that she is doing her job well. It will be spun to the extreme and the dummies who believe it will be emboldened. It will be “business as usual” and they will move on to some other item.
Watch the network news tonight and see what they do and say……you won’t surprised or overwhelmed.
just lulled and lied to.
Finally, some good. Now, perhaps, the eyes of the people will be opened along with knowing what to do!!
They never learn to do the right thing because they have evil agendas to fulfill. Know their true goals and you know them.
Maybe she knew that the wall was working and went there to show that the border under the current administration is not out of control or at crisis level at all, but reporting makes it sound like it is. See how they operate on the left?
Well I tuned in to watch a few minutes of the Harris entourage speaking at “the border”. A very carefully crafted and controlled event, as to be expected. Every speaker, all Dems of course, kept touting the same refrain about the urgent need for “comprehensive immigration reform” (amnesty for those of you who don’t know what that means) to address the “humanitarian crisis” (that they all carefully failed to mention that the Biden administration had created January 20th with the reversal of every single policy Trump that had been put in place with Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries).
So no doubt tonight and all through the weekend, the mainstream media will be touting the success of Harris’ visit to “the border” and an endless parade of so-called experts will be interviewed about the need for “comprehensive immigration reform”. In the meantime, 6,000 illegal immigrants per day will continue to flood across our borders (latest numbers from the Border Patrol), only to be quickly dispersed throughout our country. All so they can vote Democrat in the upcoming elections. If those inflow numbers remain constant, and there is no reason to assume they wouldn’t given the plans of the Biden administration, that’s a bit over 3,000,000 potentially new Democrat votes by the 2022 midterms.
You’re all missing the point. The new administration doesn’t want the wall to work!
Kamala Harris is a shell on the outside because there is no substance within. The visit to the border most likely didn’t stay in her head longer than a nanosecond. I think it’s funny she managed to go to El Paso the safest city on the border. I wonder if she laughed her way through the tour!! My mother always said “ a loud laugh bespeaks an idle mind “ Biden couldn’t have picked a better person to tour the crisis on our southern border..
Harris is a token shell.
What a waste of skin.
Excellent comment that sums up why this and other situations continue to persist.
Harris has no common sense, you can see in her face she doesn’t want to hear about all of this border protection. That is why President Trump had to shame her into going down there. She still hasn’t gone to the border. Biden and Harris and all of thier communist buddy’s know theyaregonenext election.
It’s time to ‘flush’ Biden, and Harris, down the toilet from where they belong…!!!
Kametoe harris is a joke she has no idea what she is doing why didn’t she come to the Texas and Mexico borders where her and pedophile joe destroyed and allowing pedophiles and criminals into our country .
They don’t want to see the truth…it may change their minds and lies they believe
Most likely she went there because it was the safest place to go. Her security people clearly aren’t stupid. Wonder if she figured it out?