Too Many Drugs, Not Enough Prosecution, Texas Border Sheriff Says

HUDSPETH COUNTY, Texas—The courts are “failing” in West Texas, Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West says.  

Law enforcement is apprehending drugs every day in his county, which borders Mexico, but West says his deputies are tired of repeatedly arresting the same people.  

“When I get on the deputies about, ‘Y'all need to stop this crap,’” the sheriff says his deputies respond: “Why? They're not going to do anything to them,” referring to the courts’ lack of prosecution.  

Sitting at the Big Bend Area Law Enforcement Officers Association’s March meeting, West told The Daily Signal he is worried about the “fentanyl and harsher drugs” coming across the border and flowing through his county, adding that someone in his community died of fentanyl poisoning just a week and a half ago.  

“We arrest some of these local dealers that are pushing this stuff, and the courts are just turning them out,” West said, adding, “they're PR bonding them out.”  

A judge can grant a PR bond, or a personal recognizance bond, during a pretrial hearing. The defendant does not have to pay anything, but instead signs something agreeing to appear in court when required.  

“Right now, I've got one dealer that we've arrested nine times,” West said. “I've got another one, a female, that's been transporting and dealing [drugs], we’ve arrested her six times, I believe, and to this day, neither one of them are going to court.”  

The issue of a lack of prosecution began “shortly after the public defender's office was created,” West said, adding that the former district judge for his area “would just cater to the public defender.”  

A public defender is a lawyer, usually paid for by the government, who represents individuals facing criminal charges, but who cannot afford to hire a private attorney. A public defender's office likewise is a government-funded office that provides legal services to individuals who cannot afford to hire representation in criminal cases.

“Fortunately,” West says, the new district judge representing his community is “really doing the right thing,” but the issue of a lack of prosecution persists in West Texas.  

West named both the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas and Texas’ 34^th Judicial District, which covers El Paso County, Texas, as being a part of the issue of failing to prosecute criminals to the full extent of the law. Neither office responded to The Daily Signal’s request for comment.   

While West said the number of illegal aliens walking across the border and through his county has declined significantly since President Donald Trump returned to office on Jan. 20, the flow of drugs across the border remains steady.  

Americans need to understand, West said, that if he and his deputies don’t stop the drugs in Texas, “they're coming to you, and it could be your brother, your sister, your niece, nephews that take that fatal dose. And that's the thing we want to prevent.”  

Fentanyl poisoning is now the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18 to 45, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. 

It’s the central objective of Texas law enforcement to “protect and preserve life,” West said, “and it's getting tougher and tougher to do that, because it's just one pill can take a life.”