How one border county works to keep fentanyl deaths, meth crime and human trafficking out of your communities

The U.S. southern border is being protected by a small band of deputies and police who are the front line of defense for every community in the nation.

Representing the Global Consortium of Law Enforcement Training Executives (GCLETE), which is affiliated with Rutgers University’s Miller Center on Policing and Community Resilience, the authors recently led a border visit consisting of about a dozen police chiefs representing cities, states and other jurisdictions from the United States and Canada. The law enforcement executives, several of whom belong to the Major Cities Chiefs Association and the National Sheriffs Association, were there to witness challenges at the border.

Those challenges — human smuggling, drug trafficking and border crime prominent among them — are spiraling out of control as the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) is stretched too thin to deal with the unprecedented migrant crisis.