A Texas border sheriff fed up with the Biden administration's immigration policies drove four migrants back to the border to deport them, reports Fox News.
"Anyone or anything we catch walking the highway or in smuggling endeavor, we can roll over to Border Patrol," Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe told the news outlet. "But because of the Biden administration and policies that are being put into place by the administration, I didn't have any resources but to take [them] back myself."
Coe said five migrants were discovered after a suspected smuggling vehicle his deputies were pursuing crashed on Wednesday morning. Five illegal immigrants were found inside and one had to be taken to the hospital.
The other four declined emergency services.
"They had declined any type of medical help," Coe told The Epoch Times.
"So, I can't let them walk the streets," he added. "I can't say, Hey, go, be free. Because I still have to protect the Constitution and protect the people in the county."
Instead, Coe drove them an hour to Eagle Pass and dropped them off in the middle of the international bridge.
"To let them go, undocumented, unaccounted for, just go because of a policy — I couldn't do it," he said.
"I'll always place the safety of the residents of Kinney County, the residents of Texas, above the comfort of anybody that's illegally entered this country," he told Fox. "My job is, as an elected official in Kinney County, is to protect these people. And that's my job and that's what I will continue to do until further notice."
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott praised Coe's move.
"I applaud all of our sheriffs for having to respond in unprecedented conditions. And that's causing all of us to use unprecedented action," Abbott said during a press conference Wednesday in the wake of a human smuggling tragedy that left 53 migrants dead in a truck in San Antonio.
"And so whether it's doing what that sheriff in Kinney County is doing, or what we're doing, such as turning back more than 20,000 people, we all have our own tools and strategies that we use to either turn back or to return people across the border."
Migrant encounters at the U.S. border continue to soar, with 239,416 recorded last month, according to data from Customs and Border Protection.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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