Posted on 12/07/2023 10:28:42 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Immigrants who illegally cross the border into Arizona are being handed $5,000 in good-as-cash gift cards, along with cell phones and costly plane tickets, all of which are being paid for by the American taxpayer, according to Arizona Sheriff Mark Lamb.
Mr. Lamb, sheriff of Pinal County, Arizona, told The Epoch Times that he had been informed of the lucrative hand-out through his close sources working at the United States border.
“I was absolutely in shock when these agents came forward,” said Mr. Lamb. “I had known we handed out free cell phones and plane tickets, but to give out $5,000 Visa gift cards to people who break our laws and come into our country illegally when the average American is struggling to pay their bills is just tough to swallow.”
“People need to know the truth and let their representative lawmakers hear about it. This needs to end,” added Mr. Lamb.
Mr. Lamb, who in April became the first Republican to announce his candidacy to challenge Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) for the United States Senate, says that the high-end gift cards, in addition to the plane tickets and cell phones, are paid through American tax dollars funneled from government agencies.
“We know they've been giving illegal immigrants money for a long time,” said Mr. Lamb, who worked in the position of sheriff of Pinal County for seven years. “The government can make the claim that they aren't directly paying for it, because each dollar first goes from the government to a non-government institution like a charity before it is used to pay for the illegals.”
“They are just moving the money around, but it all comes from the same place,” he added.
The Epoch Times reached out to a representative from Customs and Border Protection (CBP), who was not immediately available for comment.
In recent years the nation has seen a large surge in illegal border crossings.
In October, CBP reported the highest number of illegal immigrant encounters for any October on record, with 240,988 encounters at the southern border. The agency also reported that 13 of the arrests it made during the month were of people on the FBI terror watchlist (12 from the southern border and one from the northern border). It is expected that the fiscal year total for 2023 will exceed 2.4 million, surpassing 2022's record of 2.3 million, once the figures are finalized.
In Arizona, a record high of 17,500 illegal immigrants were arrested for unlawfully entering the southeast region of the state from Mexico between Nov. 24 and Nov. 30—up from approximately 15,650 the previous week.
On Monday, the number of illegal immigrants crossing the border into Arizona had grown so large that the federal government shut down a port of entry in Lukeville, Arizona to pull those federal customs officers to manage the crisis.
In Tucson, Arizona, the surge has spiraled so far that there is no longer room to hold new arrivals, according to an email obtained by the Washington Examiner.
"As you are aware, Tucson Sector is experiencing an unprecedented surge of illegal entries in our [area of responsibility]," Tucson, Arizona, leadership wrote in an email to agents this afternoon, according to the Washington Examiner on Nov. 27. "This morning we had more than 5,000 people in custody—far more than our holding capacity."
As the chaos at the border continues to spiral into an unmanageable crisis, the government needs to prioritize the growing number of struggling American families, according to Mr. Lamb.
“We got Christmas coming up,” said Mr. Lamb. “Families are finding it difficult to keep lights on and find a way to buy their kids a few presents for under the tree, and now the American taxpayer has to watch as their hard-earned money is being taken from them and handed to people who have broken the law?”
“It is infuriating. I know a lot of hard-working Americans who could use that money,” he added.
Mr. Lamb says in his role as sheriff—where he is tasked with enforcing existing law—his hands are tied. However, securing the border has become one of the main platforms, and reasons, for his current run for Senate.
The race to represent the GOP in the upcoming Senate race continues to be tight. Currently, Mr. Lamb is polling second in the GOP primary behind former television anchor and gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, according to a Noble Predictive Insights poll conducted between Oct. 25 and Oct. 31.
However, if he does go on to represent the people of Arizona in the Senate, Mr. Lamb says he will do “whatever it takes” to close the border and end the taxpayer-funded gifts being handed to those who come into the country illegally.
“The border is our greatest national security threat,” said Mr. Lamb. “I’m the guy who has the experience and knows how to finally do what it takes to secure it.”
bttt
C'mon, man. You haven't seen what "Surge" really means.
Wait 'til Joe announces the Christmas Bonus package for illegals during Christmas period--it will have half the Third World dropping everything and heading for the welcoming American border.
Gladhand Joe is the new Santa Claus--with a house-size sack of American tax-payer cash to hand out to whatever non-American wants a piece of it.
Don't get caught in the stampede at the border.
Biden is letting so many people in that if Trump becomes president, I don’t even know how he can find and deport all these people.
Paying people to break the law sounds illegal.
offer a reward
Anyone ever consider forcibly confiscating, or liberating, those visa cards?
I believe this. My wife works in the Publix deli here in Georgia and she REGULARLY sees whole families of obviously new foreign residents (migrants) using those Visa cards to buy food custom made sandwiches for the entire family every day. And, when those Visa cards run out, it’s on to SNAP and EBT and WICs which most all of them get, too.
Not a single word of English (they point at the ingredients) and new clothes all around. Get a good daily meal with EVERYTHING on it and then go shopping for the basic staples they used to get in their once-home countries.
Why work when they get this? Visa card, SNAP and TANF on EBT, WICs and a little SSI thrown in to top it all off.
Canada puts them up in free hotel rooms in very decent hotels... They also get a monthly amount of spending money and free healthcare including drugs.
So if you are thinking of visiting Canada, just cross the border, pretend that you have no passport, claim ‘refugee’ status and viola... Free hotel room and board and free healthcare. You’ll save a bundle on your vacation and get that hip replaced for free. It’s a great retirement plan... The only big problem... Winter. It starts in November and doesn’t end until June.
Our country is doomed.
Now it makes sense why Walmart stopped advertising on X.
I have bee flying out of Tucson International over the last year and it's been an eye opener.
First flight out was like 6am and earlier this year they were actually still trying to hide the illegal alien trafficking. They would process the illegals starting at 4am.
The illegals had their own line through the pre approved section of security. They were essentially waved through - didn't need to go through the metal detector or nude scanner like the rest of us lowly US citizens
They all had new clothes, backpacks , carry bags with “let's go have fun” printed on them (you just can't make this up) , new smart phones and a pre paid visa debit card with then $3000 on it so it looks like Biden has sweetened the deal.
They also get a free ticket valued at $600 anywhere in the US the Democrats need to send them for votes.
All funded by our tax money.
Now they are not even trying to hide it. Had a connecting flight in Tucson recently one afternoon and half the passengers were illegal aliens
People whine and snivel about the millions going to Ukraine to defend their country from invasion and genocide by the Russian, but just crickets about the free millions going to illegal aliens.
“Immigrants who illegally cross the border into Arizona are being handed $5,000 in good-as-cash gift cards”
When you hear the Rats talking about funding “border security,” be aware that this is what they have in mind.
They’re showing up everywhere in our area with new clothes and wads of cash.
Paid to invade what a job.
offer a reward
__________________
Smart idea!
I can confirm your post as I saw this happen in Publix in June. I went to the service area to check the balance on a gift card from my BIL. Surely enough there were two Hispanic types asking questions there about their freebie cards.
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