More states implementing targeted border crime operations, latest in Mississippi

(The Center Square) – When previous U.S. attorneys or the Department of Justice weren’t prosecuting border crimes, local law enforcement felt as if they didn’t have federal support. This has now changed, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Mississippi Scott Leary said.

His office released details about a recent multiagency operation, but at a press conference he highlighted the reason why this operation was just the beginning of a statewide concerted effort to crack down on border crime.

“Beginning in 2020, our borders opened up and drugs spilled into this country,” he said. Law enforcement saw “the price of methamphetamine drop 80%, fentanyl pills that used to cost 30 bucks a pill now cost dollars, and our young people paid the price. Cartels moved in. They flooded our streets with drugs. They took our money and they killed our children.”

While the federal government has played a limite...