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Henry County Sheriff concerned after visit to border
Sheriff Rich McNamee shares about his visit to McAllen, TX and the border
MT. PLEASANT — Henry County Sheriff Rich McNamee, along with sheriffs from 28 states and 100 state legislators, visited McAllen, Texas, this past fall to attend a border press conference held by Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) and see the state of the border firsthand.
During his time in Texas, McNamee heard from sheriffs from states such as Texas, Maryland, and Colorado, and legislators from West Virginia, New Hampshire and Oklahoma. They were all present for a press conference which addressed concerns about the impact of illegal immigration on communities.
“There were a few different hot topics that were discussed,” McNamee said. “Obviously, illegal immigration was a topic, fentanyl transportation, and human trafficking were kind of the three prongs of the seminar.”
According to McNamee, his visit also included a three-day exploration of the border itself.
After sharing his experience with people around Henry County, McNamee says he was encouraged to share his story with a wider audience.
“There were a couple things about this dilemma at the border that really scared me,” McNamee said.
McNamee said he was shocked when he was told many of the individuals crossing the southern border were not from Mexico, but instead many came from China or Ukraine.
According to McNamee, when people from Mexico cross illegally and are caught, they are sent back to Mexico. However, he stated that those from other countries were documented and sent on their way.
“You know, you get to an airport, you get your boarding pass at the airline, you go to TSA, they check you in,” McNamee detailed the procedure many follow while flying in a post 9/11 world. “You have to empty all your pockets, take your shoes off, your belt off, your purse. Put all that stuff in a tub and they send it through an X-ray machine and then they put you through the body scanner.”
On his way home from Texas, McNamee said he noticed a border patrol station to his left as he went through the TSA line.
“They had a young Hispanic couple there with a small child,” he said. “They’re kind of reading them the riot act. As soon as I get to the front of the TSA line, they stop me. The Wayne County Sheriff was in the next line and they stopped him.”
“They let this couple come through,” he said. “They went around the X-ray machine for their luggage. Didn’t have to put their luggage through. They went around the body scanner. Didn’t have to go through the body scan.”
McNamee did not go through on his first trip through TSA, though, he had to go back to the airline desk and get a new boarding pass because his date of birth on the pass didn’t match that on his driver’s license.
“So, I had to go back to United and get a new boarding pass,” he said. “I came back to the TSA line and there’s another couple being grilled by border patrol and I’m sure they’re just asking for their credentials and where they’re heading, but the same thing happened. No X-ray machine, no body scanner. They went through into the terminal.”
When McNamee got through, he put his things in the basket to go through the X-ray machine and went through the body scanner.
He was then pulled aside to be searched because TSA stated they saw something suspicious in his luggage, which turned out to be his sheriff’s laptop.
“That was what triggered it, because I had this big steel object in my suitcase, but they went through my hygiene items, my underwear, my socks, the whole thing and when they got done they handed me my wallet,” he said.
Holding his wallet open in front of himself, McNamee showed how they did so, “And they said ’Here’s you go, Sheriff. Here’s your wallet,’ and they kind of laughed.”
According to McNamee both couples that went through the security measures had bright red or orange folders handed to them by Border Patrol and when he got on his flight, he saw many others with similar folders. So, he asked the woman next to him for information.
With the help of a phone translator, he received some information.
“This really nice lady sat down next to me,” McNamee said. “ … I said my name and introduced myself. Her name was Rose and she was from Guatemala. Very nice.”
According to McNamee, Rose stated that she had crossed the border illegally and was trying to get to Seattle to find her children who crossed months before her.
When McNamee asked about the folder, he said Rose told him that it was her government clearance.
“So, if you are an illegal and you get caught on this side of the border, if you're from Mexico, they ship you back to Mexico,” McNamee said. “If you’re from any other country in the world, they document you and send you where you want to go.”
According to McNamee, the documents include a photograph, fingerprints, and whatever name the individual gives.
“That’s how the United States is documenting these people,” he said.
McNamee said he also learned about this in the seminar.
“Border Patrol did tell us this documentation process is really weak,” McNamee said. “And he showed us an example. They had a 12-year-old boy that had been caught and documented 17 times. He was 12 years old, had the same picture every time. The same fingerprints, and 17 different names … and each time he was carrying illegal substance.”
According to a document from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released in September, because “DHS released more than 1 million migrants into the United States from March 2021 through August 2022,” U.S. Border Patrol agents were instructed to obtain a U.S. destination address, also referred to as a post-release address, “to the extent the subjects know it.”
The document titled, “DHS does not have assurance that all migrants can be located once released into the United States,” details findings of an investigation by the DHS Office of Inspector General.
“DHS has limited ability to track migrants’ post-release addresses accurately and effectively,” the report states. “USBP cannot always obtain and does not always record migrant addresses, and ICE does not always validate migrant addresses prior to migrant release into the United States.”
“Based on our review of 981,671 migrant records documented by USBP [U.S. Border Patrol] from March 2021 through August 2022, addresses for more than 177,000 migrant records were either missing, invalid for delivery, or not legitimate residential locations,” the report stated.
McNamee’s experience also included a boat ride to see the border up close and personal on the Rio Grande.
“I went there and I saw it firsthand,” McNamee said. “The cartels have a good grip on the border.”
“When we toured the Rio Grande, we went out on boats with the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) and the U.S. Border Patrol,” McNamee said. “They pointed out houses they knew were owned by the cartel and when they’re going down the river there are observation towers and security towers in these people’s yards watching the U.S. side like we’re watching the Mexico side and they’re controlling who gets through the water, and who doesn’t.”
According to McNamee, they road in boats armed with heavy-duty guns and Kevlar shields to tour the Rio Grande, which he says was about the same size as the Skunk River.
“The DPS told us that when they have large groups on the boats they drug cartel leave them alone because they know they’re just giving people tours,” McNamee said. “If they’re just out on patrol, though, they’re fair game.”
Despite the truce between the sides, McNamee says even on a tour, they were “cruising up and down the river like you’re water skiing kind of speed.”
On Patrol, the boats go slower and are often shot at regularly by the Cartel.
Another area of concern McNamee observed on his trip to McAllen came from his firsthand observations of a ranch located near the border.
According to McNamee, this ranch was located on both sides of one of the first Border Patrol checkpoints in Brooks County.
“Brooks County is known in the law enforcement world as death county because they have more [deaths] per capita than any other county in the state of Texas,” McNamee said.
During his time on this ranch, McNamee says the rancher told of three people found dead on his ranch from January to September in 2023.
“I’m not talking about Grandma Smith dying in her bed, kind of dead. I’m talking undocumented immigrants that have come across the border illegally and died in the desert,” McNamee said. “One was a 12-year-old, one was a young man that was hung from a tree like they did in the Wild West and left for dead. The other was an 8-month pregnant woman that had been raped and left dead in the desert.”
McNamee was disturbed by the amount of death surrounding the border, saying some bodies are not found until there are nothing but skeletal remains.
“Brooks county had 249 deaths in 2023 through September,” McNamee said.
McNamee learned that many of these people are dying because those bringing them across will tell them to get out ahead of a check point and walk through the desert around the checkpoint to meet on the other side.
“But they’re either getting bit by a snake or a scorpion, they’re dying of dehydration, they’re getting lost and disoriented and left for dead,” he said. “They told me that if you’re old, obese or too young and can’t keep up with the group, they just leave you.”
“To me, that is something our federal government should focus on,” McNamee said. “People are dying in that desert and we’re doing nothing about it.”
After seeing all these things in Texas this past fall, McNamee encourages those in Henry County and anyone else that will listen to reach out to their legislators about concerns for security with poor documentation, concerns about people dying in the desert on the border, and concern about the presence of the cartel and other illegal activity on the border and how that impacts crime in the United States.
Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com
