Members of the Islamic State would have no problem getting across the southern border, because anyone can cross, says Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona.
"If they haven't, they sure can," Arpaio told J.D. Hayworth on "America's Forum" on
TV Thursday.
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"The media, all these national, international channels pick up on politicians saying that the border is not secure," he explained. "You think they don't hear that?"
"There's always that possibility of anyone, anyone coming across that border into our country," he added. "I would not be surprised" if militants from IS, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), crossed the border.
Arpaio joins others, including former House Intelligence Committee Chairman
Pete Hoekstra, retired
Army Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely, and former federal agent
Michael Cutler, who have also cited the border as a way terrorists and ISIS militants could enter the United States if they wanted to launch attacks on American soil.
The Maricopa Country sheriff says that the way to solve the immigration problem is to "go across that border, with the Border Patrol or the military, work together."
Arpaio said that while it's important to secure the border, it's also important to understand that "the border will never be 100 percent secure," which is why he says that "we have to go across the border."
He said that when he talks about the "military," he's "talking about in Mexico, across the border, to stop the drug traffickers, illegal immigrants from coming into our country."
"It can be done," he added, but there has to be "the will to do it."
He said that it's key to work with the Mexican government because they can play a role in stopping the migrant kids that are coming to the United States "through Mexico."
"Why did they let them cross the border?" he asked.
"You have to have the will of the Mexican government, too, working with the U.S. government," he explained. "It's something the two presidents can get together and have a little drink over in Acapulco and have a little personal interest and get this job done."
"If not, then you take away their foreign aid," he added.
He said that's how it was done during the Nixon administration.
However, "that's never going to happen because the will of both presidents, Mexico and the United States, is not there like it was under President Nixon."
Arpaio said it's "sad" that the United States is "the greatest country in the world, and we can't seem to get away from this problem."
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