This article comes from “naturalnews.com”
Illegal immigrants crossing the border into Arizona are receiving $5,000 gift cards that are good as cash alongside mobile phones and costly plane tickets, according to a county sheriff in the Grand Canyon State.
Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb disclosed this scheme to the Epoch Times, citing his close sources working at the U.S.-Mexico border. He added that these lucrative handouts being given to illegals are paid through American tax money funneled from government agencies.
“I was absolutely in shock when these agents came forward,” said Lamb. “I had known we handed out free cell phones and plane tickets, but to give out $5,000 Visa gift cards to people who break our laws and come into our country illegally – when the average American is struggling to pay their bills – is just tough to swallow.”
“We know they’ve been giving illegal immigrants money for a long time. The government can make the claim that they aren’t directly paying for it, because each dollar first goes from the government to a non-government institution like a charity before it is used to pay for the illegals.”
Lamb, who has served as Pinal County sheriff since 2017, noted that “people need to know the truth and let their representative lawmakers hear about it.” He added: “They are just moving the money around, but it all comes from the same place. This has to end.”
Grand Canyon State seeing grand surges of illegals
The Epoch Times reached out to a representative from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for comment regarding Lamb’s revelations. However, they were not immediately available as of press time.
The U.S. has seen a large surge in illegal border crossings in recent years. In October, CBP reported the highest number of migrant encounters for any October on record – with 240,988 encounters at the southern border. It also reported that 13 arrests by the CBP during the month were of individuals on the Federal Bureau of Investigation‘s terror watchlist.
Once the figures are finalized, the total number of migrant encounters is projected to exceed 2.4 million for the 2023 fiscal year. This trails the total for the 2022 fiscal year, which amounted to 2.3 million.
On Dec. 4, the number of illegal immigrants crossing the border into the Grand Canyon State grew massively. This prompted the federal government to shut down a port of entry in Lukeville, Arizona so that federal customs officers could manage the migrant influx.
Meanwhile, in Tucson, Arizona, the migrant surge has reached the breaking point. The city no longer has any room for new arrivals. City leadership alerted border agents to this pressing matter through an email.
“As you are aware, Tucson Sector is experiencing an unprecedented surge of illegal entries in our [area of responsibility],” the email said. “We had more than 5,000 people in custody, far more than our holding capacity.”
It even came to a point where Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector announced that it will stop posting updates on the area’s border security situation. “In light of the ongoing migrant surge, all Tucson Sector Border Patrol social media accounts will be paused until further notice,” CBP Tucson Sector Chief Patrol Agent John Modlin announced on Nov. 26. “We appreciate your understanding and continued support during this challenging time.” (Related: Border Patrol sector in Arizona STOPS POSTING UPDATES amid ongoing surge of illegals.)
Not everyone agreed with the move, including Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin.
“Just days [after] Border Patrol’s Tucson sector reported having 15,300 illegal crossings, … [the sector] says it’s pausing its social media until further notice due to ‘ongoing migration surge,'” he said. “Regardless of the reasoning behind this, this is such a bad look. Essentially, the border crisis in the sector is so bad that they’re going to cut off all communication and transparency with the public.”
Watch Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb discloses that illegal border crossings happen in his territory on an everyday basis.
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