Congress needs to take action on illegal immigration said Yuma, Ariz. Mayor Douglas Nicholls

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Yuma, Ariz. mayor on conditions at the southern border

Mayor Doug Nicholls discusses the criminal element of migrants coming into the United States

Yuma, Ariz. Mayor Douglas Nicholls discussed conditions at the southern border on "Fox News Live" Saturday, saying the cartels act like businesses, and make trillions off illegal immigration.

"It’s a business to these traffickers, so when it’s a business that brings billions of dollars a year to them, you’re going to see them try to exploit every angle and every weakness and every policy that is in place along the border at this time," Nicholls said.

He noted that cartels understood how the border worked, knowing where to send illegal immigrants, and where to smuggle drugs and other illegal contraband.

"Right now on the ground…the cartels are working, and they understand the border," said Nicholls. "And they’re trying to control exactly the different crossings, whether it’s people or whether it’s drugs."

Nicholls noted that immigrants would not naturally know the best way into the United States, rather they rely on a "criminal element" in cartels along the way.

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Nicholls blamed Joe Biden’s reversal of Trump policies for the crisis at the border, saying people saw Biden’s policies as "an open door, as a welcome mat…to come into the country."  

He also noted that during the 2019 migrant surge, the federal government acted swiftly, and individual states did not have to bear the burden of the crisis.

"This is very much the same push we had in 2019, and in about three months the administration at the time was able to put policies in place that stemmed that flow, that kept people from trying to enter the country at these dramatic numbers," Nicholls said.

Nicholls also implored the federal government to take action, and implement much-needed immigration reform.

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"The federal government really needs to step up and take control of the situation…ultimately we need to see policy changes. We really, really need Congress to jump in and do the immigration changes that have been decades in coming," he said.

"We need to find ways as a nation to have the conversation about what we’re doing, and the current policies, that have been in place, and even the ones that in the past are really encouraging this business and really encouraging the exploitation of people from third-world countries," Nicholls concluded.