Immigrants wait to be processed at a U.S. Border Patrol transit center on Dec. 20, 2023 in Eagle Pass, Texas. (John Moore/Getty Images)
Under the Biden administration’s lax border policies, Coe said people in his county had to deal with huge financial losses and a constant sense of danger and uncertainty. He also said there was a dramatic increase in dangerous law enforcement pursuits in his county.
"In a career, a law enforcement officer might have 10 or 15 good pursuits after a 25- or 30-year career. [In] 2023, one of my deputies was involved in 54 pursuits in one year," he said. "That same year we did 255 pursuits. So, it’s gone from one or two pursuits a year to 250 pursuits a year… So, yes, it was total chaos."
But now, with Trump retaking power on Jan. 20, Coe said he is "very optimistic" about the future.
Why the optimism? Coe said: "It's the change in attitude coming from the administration, plus the change in the attitude of the American people because they're tired [of the border crisis]."
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Former President Trump speaks to Gov. Greg Abbott during a visit to Eagle Pass, Texas, on Feb. 29, 2024. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away, Mayor Douglas Nicholls of Yuma, a town of just under 101,000 residents on the Arizona-Mexico border, told Fox News Digital things are also returning to normal.
Like the Del Rio sector, Yuma also saw a historic surge in illegal immigration under the Biden administration, with over 310,000 crossing in 2022, three times the population of the city. Now, Nicholls said the number of migrants coming across in the Yuma area has fallen to around 50 per day, which he said is fully contained by Border Patrol.
Nicholls said he is optimistic that his city will receive at least the same level of support from the new administration that it did during Trump’s first term.
"Within two weeks [of the first Trump term], the president invited me to the White House. We sat down in the Oval Office with the [Homeland Security] secretary and the three of us had a conversation for about half an hour. I walked out of that meeting with resources and weeks later, we had the ‘Remain in Mexico’ program that dramatically changed the nature of crossers along the border," said Nicholls, adding that "essentially in about 3 to 5 months… the situation I was concerned about was pretty much put to rest."
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Migrants camp under the International Bridge in Del Rio, Texas in September. (Rep. August Pfluger)
He said officers in Del Rio are honored to be the "first line of defense," helping to keep criminal illegal immigrants from getting farther into the country.
"If we can get somebody that doesn't need to be in the rest of the states here, it's a double win push, and it's something that we take very seriously over here, and we enjoy doing," he said.
Nevertheless, because of these difficulties and the fact that Del Rio is a smaller city that cannot compete with larger city salaries, Ramirez said his department is struggling with recruitment and retention. He said that besides closing the border, communities like his need additional federal funding to compensate officers doing double duty fighting normal crime and illegal migrant crime.
"It's made it a little bit difficult on us because we're still trying to take care of the regular problems of the city and, on top of that, take care of immigration issues," he explained. "Every day you're rolling the dice. Who's coming through? Who's made it across? Are they coming to our city first? And what are they looking for? Are they coming to do something to somebody? Take something from somebody or are they just passing through?"
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Del Rio, Texas, Chief of Police Frank Ramirez (Fox News)
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"So, the key thing that we really need and the thing that we're kind of looking for is with the grants that would give us salary assistance, something like that would really help the border towns so that we could be competitive with some of the bigger agencies and be able to retain and keep some of these officers over here," he said.
"This town is terrific. It's got great people in it, and I truly mean that when I say it," he went on. "So, wanting to keep the city safe is really important to me. It's something personal."
"Any assistance we can get would be appreciated from any administration. I don't know what the plans are, but [we are] definitely hopeful and hoping for maybe a little bit more support," he concluded with a smile.
Peter Pinedo is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/border-leaders-say-communities-regaining-normalcy-ahead-trump-inauguration