A sheriff of a county roughly two thousand miles away from the U.S.-Mexico border says the immigration crisis has wreaked havoc on his community and is pleading with Congress to step up enforcement efforts.
Sheriff Mike Chapman of Loudoun County, Virginia, is due to speak in front of the House Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday to detail the toll of the border crisis within his jurisdiction. Violence has skyrocketed to “unprecedented” levels in recent years and is being waged by those living in the country unlawfully and affiliated with international criminal organizations, according to testimony that he will give before the committee and first obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“In Loudoun County, one of the safest localities in the entire U.S., we have seen an increase in unprecedented violence in recent years,” Chapman will say in prepared testimony. “Of our last five homicides, three were committed by suspects in this Country illegally, two of which were by a self-proclaimed MS-13 gang member.”
“Just this week, a previously affiliated MS-13 gang member opened fire on another vehicle resulting from a simple ‘road rage’ incident,” the sheriff continues.
In a request that is in sharp contrast to numerous sanctuary city leaders across the country, Chapman is calling for “all law enforcement” to work together to combat crime, including cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). It’s imperative that local law enforcement officials receive the resources they need from federal partners to keep communities safe, he argues.
“Starting with the border, we must continue to build a wall, refuse illegal entries, enhance technology, and encourage ‘Remain in Mexico’ policies,” the sheriff will say on Tuesday. “If an ‘All Hands-on Deck’ approach is not aggressively pursued, these problems will continue to migrate to our most populated areas, to our cities that were once beautiful which have now become unsafe.”
“As law enforcement enforcers, we have a duty and responsibility to work together to protect our citizens and keep them safe – and Congress has a duty to support these efforts,” he continues.
Chapman also represents the Major County Sheriffs of America, an association of some of the largest sheriff’s offices across the country that altogether serves more than one-third of the population.
The U.S. experienced a worsening border crisis under the Biden-Harris administration, with fiscal years 2023 and 2024 being the worst years in the country’s history for migrant encounters. There were roughly 8.5 million migrant encounters along the southern border during the four fiscal years of the Biden administration.
In contrast, President-elect Donald Trump has promised to enter office and immediately hardline immigration enforcement efforts, including the largest deportation program in U.S. history, a return to the Remain in Mexico program, continuing construction of the border wall and numerous other hawkish policies.
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