CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — It was a big win Thursday night for President Biden as the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government has a right to end the "Remain in Mexico" policy.
The Trump-era rule required migrants to remain until their asylum cases were ruled on. After Thursday's ruling, south Texas sheriff's and migrant rights advocates who are on the front lines of the immigration issue are speaking out.
"You shut the border down," Brooks County Sheriff Urbino "Benny" Martinez said. "You close the border completely. Period. Boom, shut it down. That's it."
Martinez say he has been dealing with the effects of various border policies for years. The cartels have been running human smuggling operations through his county, which results in daily pursuits.
Those pursuits also produced at least 55 deaths in his county this year alone.
As migrants continue to cross through the "dessert of death" he said that he is not against immigration; he simply believes it needs to be done in a more orderly fashion.
"The workers are needed but we also have to have things in order so we can validate whomever is coming over and that's the whole key here we're not validating," Martinez said.
Eddie Canales is the Executive Director of the South Texas Human Rights Center, and said he would like to see a working border policy.
"You can have them come to the border, they can identify themselves, you can do background checks on these people," Canales said. "You sign-off and they're in the country here to work. Tell me we don't need the labor in this country."
Dr. Michael Vickers founded the Texas Border Volunteers militia group. His organization goes out into the brush to spot migrants and then report their location to Border Patrol and other lawmen. He told 3NEWS that he and other ranchers have suffered more property damage this year than in any past year due to migrants crossing their property. He too is hoping for some border policy changes.
"I think we need some kind of program where these people get possibly a green card for a designated period of time to be able to come in and work and then go back home," Vickers said. "I am not for amnesty. I'm not for any of these people to become American citizens. All of this puts a drain on our resources, our hospitals, our schools."
With recent smuggling attempts, officials in Brooks County not only want to see an immigration policy; but one that would stop human smuggling and still allow legal immigration.
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