Veterans of the armed forces in southern California have been fixing fences and barriers along the Mexican border, including razor wire to deter illegal immigrants from entering their state.
As reported by Newsweek on Wednesday, the group, which goes by the name Border Vets, has been posting images of its members at work on social media.
The website Border Report, which tracks illegal immigration across the U.S.-Mexico border, was informed by former Marine and Border Vet member Kate Monroe that “the holes we can find [in the wall] — we’re going to go ahead and get the razor wire and do our best to defend our country.” “The person you are waiting on to help you with this is not going to show up. There will be individuals just like us, American veterans.”
The work of the group coincides with the finding of a recent Monmouth University poll that 84% of Americans believe that illegal immigration is a “serious” or “very serious” problem. The issue has been the focal point of former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
The majority of Border Vets’ work is done in the vicinity of Jacumba Hot Springs, a significant California border crossing.
Only authorized contractors or workers are permitted to work on border defenses under Customs and Border Patrol regulations, but Monroe told Border Report that “that’s not going to stop us or deter us from coming here.”
“If we can stop them [illegal immigrants] for one day, one hour, one week, we’ve stopped more people from coming into our country,” she stated.
Monroe added that the veterans had encountered Border Patrol officials who had not objected to their job.
The GOP candidate Monroe for California’s 9th District stated on X that border security activities are expanding.
“Thursday, I will have a massive team and supply of razor wire to secure the border,” she declared. “I’m not even in Congress yet, but I have taken more action on this issue over the past week than the president has in the past 3 years.”
According to activist Brett Christenson, the organization “was born out of need and out of an obligation to an oath that we took to defend our nation from all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
“The Biden administration wants to see our country burn,” he stated. “We’re here to tell them we are done and we will take matters into our own hands.”
The number of unlawful border crossings reported by the Border Patrol in January was 176,205, a 42% decrease from December’s recorded 301,983; this represents the biggest decline since January 2021, when President Joe Biden took office.