NM Police Chief: Closed Border Checkpoints Causing More Murders

Border Patrol officials in the El Paso Sector closed inland border security checkpoints earlier this year in order to move more agents to the front line to help apprehend and process the massive numbers of migrants crossing into New Mexico and West Texas. Las Cruces Police Chief Patrick Gallagher told local news outlets this is partially to blame for a recent increase in homicides and shootings, KVIA ABC7 reported.

The local ABC affiliate reports that Doña Ana County experienced seven fatal shootings in the past six weeks. {snip}

“The increase in violence in Las Cruces and the increase in shooting incidents, we are concerned by it,” Chief Gallagher explained. “There were five homicides in June alone. Four of the five of them were narcotics related.”

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“With asylum seekers coming to the border and throwing up their hands to every Border Patrol agent they can see, the cartel is a very active observer,” the sheriff continued. “They’re opportunists.”

In May, the Otero County Sheriff David Black told reporters that the closed checkpoints are a “green light” for the cartels.

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