VIDEO: Michael Gomez, Mayor of Douglas, Arizona - How The Southwest Border Has Become Safer

NDN/NPI was fortunate enough to participate in the Office of Congressman Silvestre Reyes' and The University of Texas at El Paso's (UTEP) eighth annual Border Security Conference, and the Southwest Border Mayors meeting both in El Paso Texas.

While there we sat down to talk with the Mayor of Douglas, AZ Dr. Michael Gomez about the changes he has seen along the border between Mexico and the United States along the Arizona sector.

Mayor Gomez contextualized what is happening in Arizona by talking about how both the San Diego and El Paso border sectors where brought under control and what that has meant for the safety of the Arizona sector.

In the video above Mayor Gomez is referring to Operation Hold The Line and Operation Gatekeeper respectively. Both of these programs were successful in making the El Paso and San Diego sectors safer. In Arizona they are employing Operation SafeGuard and it is showing real results.

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The Los Angeles Times has an article up here which sheds further light on how border safety has been ramped up over the last 20 years. The article notes that the Federal Government spent:

"$206 million this year to bolster the campaign against illegal immigrants all along the border with Mexico. In Arizona, the project is called Operation Safeguard and in Texas and parts of New Mexico it is Operation Hold the Line."

NDN's own recent report on the current Administrations Border strategy, has released $600 million on border safety. Over the past ten years the U.S. has spent $90 billion dollars on border security. Which has actually created record low crime rates along the border. This has led some to call the Southwest Border region the safest place in America.