Art del Cueto, a leader of the union representing Border Patrol agents, has spent a majority of his career patrolling the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation in Arizona. Del Cueto says he has seen the drug war firsthand.
“They’re obviously smuggling numerous amounts of drugs through these areas … hard drugs, cocaine, methamphetamines, fentanyl,” del Cueto, vice president of the National Border Patrol Council, tells The Daily Signal, adding:
That doesn’t stay in just those communities. It gets spread out throughout the United States. I’ve said it many times before. Because of how bad it is lately and because of the bonanza that the drug smuggling cartels are seeing [as] they’re able to bring their product across, I believe every single law enforcement officer in America, every sheriff in America, they’re all border sheriffs. And they’re in essence all border police officers because of how bad it is and how much drugs are coming into the U.S.
Del Cueto’s parents were already U.S. citizens when their son Art was born. But they were in Mexico and didn’t have time to get back to the United States before the birth. So, del Cueto was born in Mexico but derived his U.S. citizenship from his parents.
Today, del Cueto says he is concerned for America’s future given the current crisis at the border and its implications for generations to come.
“My loyalty is just toward one country, and when I see the words that are being used, when I see how disrespectful some people have been toward America and toward our country, it’s frightening and it’s sad. Because I believe a lot of these individuals are going to grow up in America and they will not have a true allegiance to this country,” del Cueto says.
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