BISBEE, Ariz (KGUN9-TV) - With the President calling for better border walls and more border patrol, what do the people who live and work on the border think of what the President use promising?
Wide swaths of the Arizona border already have a border barrier but some border residents say the commitment they see behind the President’s promises is at least as important as more border walls.
There was a time when a few strands of barbed wire was all that marked the US-Mexico border but you don't see much of that anymore. You see a big substantial barrier instead.
John Ladd's family has ranched Cochise County border land near Bisbee for 120 years. They’ve seen plenty of people cross illegally and pass through their land.
He says years ago they saw families crossing hoping for work. But the past few years they've seen mostly young men moving drugs.
"The cartel, it's a business and if you don't succeed what you're supposed to do, if anybody tries to confront them they're gonna shoot you."
Now workers are replacing the ten foot fence the government put on the edge of his land about ten years ago with an 18 foot fence topped by a slippery steel panel designed to make it harder to climb. The work started weeks before President Trump's latest orders.
John Ladd says the fence helps but someone determined enough can beat any fence. He's hoping the President's call for more Border Patrol will put more agents right on the border able to catch someone the moment they make it across.
"They need to be on the international boundary. They don't need to be in Washington. They don't need to be in 25 miles, they need to be right here and I think that deterrence is number one."
Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels says he's encouraged to see the President moving fast but understands some of the changes may take months or years. He says to be effective border barriers need more than just walls.
“If you put the right infrastructure behind that fence, staffing, technology, the right resources, the right plan, it slows them down."
The Sheriff says every border zone has its own unique challenges. He hopes as the administration develops its plans for the border it will listen to the people who live there.
