Mark Lamb says ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy would help Border Patrol on Fox News

PHOENIX — Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, who is running for Kyrsten Sinema’s seat in the U.S. Senate, joined Fox News to talk about the situation on the southern border.

Customs and Border Protection closed the port of entry in Lukeville, Arizona on December 11 and received immediate backlash from Arizona’s U.S. senators and governor.

Gov. Katie Hobbs signed an executive order on December 15 to send National Guard troops to the area to help deal with the surge. There is no set time frame to reopen the port.

“The easiest thing to do is to go back to the Trump era policies,” Lamb said. “We’ve got to shut the border down, secure the border and we’ve got to restore the ‘Remain in Mexico’ program.”

The area around the desert crossing has become a major migration route in recent months, with smugglers dropping off people from countries as diverse as Senegal, India and China. Most of them are walking into the U.S. west of Lukeville through gaps in the wall, then heading east toward the official border crossing to surrender to the first agents they see in hopes for a chance at asylum.

“We’re gonna have a mass deportation situation on our hands and so we’ve got to get back to securing the border – first and foremost – which would stop the fentanyl. It would weaken the cartels and allow border patrol to get back to doing their jobs because right now they are completely handcuffed,” Lamb said.

The Border Patrol made 17,500 arrests for illegal crossings during the past week in the agency’s Tucson sector, John Modlin, the sector chief, said Friday, That translates to a daily average of 2,500, well above its daily average of 1,700 in September, when Tucson was already the busiest corridor for illegal crossings by far along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Sheriff believes the situation at the border is the most critical issue to solve to protect the nation.

“This is the greatest threat to national security that Americans are facing on the southern border,” Lamb said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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