Climbing border numbers are 'staggering to see': Jonathan Line
Yuma County, AZ., Supervisor Jonathan Lines discusses the impact of the border crisis on Arizona farms and its threat to food security.
Amid a surge in migrant border crisis, Arizonan farmers are sharing their concerns about the Biden administration's handling of the border crisis. Yuma County, AZ Supervisor Jonathan Lines joined ‘Fox & Friends Weekend’ on Saturday morning to share the concerns of the farmers and the impact the crisis has on the Arizona agriculture industry.
Earlier in the week, Arizona farmers Hank Auza and Alex Muller shared with Fox News the impact of migrants on the farms.
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Auza spoke on ‘Fox & Friends’ Thursday morning, sharing that the crisis is not only a border community issue but a national one. "Well, this is not just a border community problem. This is a United States problem."
Muller also shared on Thursday's ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight,' the measures he had to take after migrants entered his farm "Any time anybody enters our field, we have to cordon that off and flag it and we don't harvest that area."
Yuma, Arizona farmland (Megan Myers/Fox News)
The Yuma County Supervisor explained to ‘Fox & Friends’ co-host Will Cain, that the border crisis and the surge in migrant crossings impacted not just agriculture, but also the community. "Oh, that's a little bit overwhelming. You know, it's not just our AG that's affected, but our hospital, our Local 911, our NGOs. It's just staggering to see the numbers continue to climb."
Lines continued his explanation adding that the Biden administration's policies are not helping stem the crisis but have failed. "It's just unprecedented to see this type of traffic and people coming from all over the world, specifically in the areas where we had the containers which were temporary. And the federal administration or Washington has still failed to act to keep our borders secure."
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The ‘Fox & Friends Weekend’ co-host raised the issue that these migrant encounters are affecting Yuma agriculture, and provided the U.S. Department of Agriculture statistic, that Yuma Country produces 90 percent of all leafy vegetables in the United States. Cain inquired about the crisis' impact on the farms.
AZ Farmer Hank Auza said he doesn't understand why the Biden administration ordered Arizona to remove a container wall from the southern border. (Megan Myers/Fox News Digital)
Lines detailed the measures that farmers have to go through when they encounter a migrant in their crops.
"Well, our farmers, growers, harvesters have had to take extraordinary measures in order to protect their product. When there is an undocumented entry into a field, the farmers have to go back. Then they have to test. They have to, like has been mentioned. They have a cordon that area off, call in USDA, call in Arizona AG Department and make sure that all the protocols are being followed."
He also explained that the farmer's measures are expensive, affecting the cost of food prices, and threatening food security, "it costs a lot more money in an already expensive time for our food supply."
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Line concluded by sharing that the Biden administration has not acted to solve the crisis and secure the border, and farmers are growing concerned about food security.
"They've made a commitment to us. Mayorkas was here last year, told us that he was going to plug these gaps. He failed to act. Ducey acted. Those gaps are opened again. We're concerned. Our growers are concerned just because we are extremely focused on the food security issue."
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