Paul Nehlen’s campaign to take House Speaker Paul Ryan’s Congressional seat led him to the Texas border and left him shocked. Nehlen turned that shock into action and donated $42,000 of rifles, body armor, and other gear to help two of the under-funded and under-staffed sheriff’s departments along the remote and dangerous Texas-Mexico border. In letters exclusively obtained by Breitbart Texas, the sheriffs have expressed their gratitude.
Breitbart Texas broke the story of Nehlen’s generosity to the border law enforcement agencies. We wrote:
Paul Nehlen, the primary challenger to House Speaker Paul Ryan, revealed exclusively to Breitbart Texas that he has personally donated over $40,000 in urgently needed rifles, body armor, and surveillance and night vision equipment to two Texas border sheriffs departments that were left in dire need by the Obama Administration and Congressional leaders.
The two Texas border Sheriffs whose agencies received the donations wrote letters thanking the candidate. The letters are attached below.
Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West, whose West Texas county shares a near 100-mile border with Mexico, expressed his gratitude to Nehlen for the donation which allowed him to modernize the weapons his deputies carry while on patrol in this desolate part of the state. He said the rifles he currently issues to deputies are over twenty years old.
“With this donation, I was able to issue my officers new and more reliable rifles for the work here in the county,” West explained. “This donation to the Sheriff’s Office greatly improves the officer’s chances if they were to become engaged with the criminal element here in Hudspeth County, especially while patrolling the remote areas of the county along the Texas and Mexico border. With 99 miles of river border with Mexico, the chances of encounters with drug cartels and human smugglers are highly possible.”
While Culberson County does not sit directly on the border with Mexico, its southernmost boundaries are only a few miles away from Mexico and large volumes of drugs and illegal aliens are smuggled through to attempt to reach the major Interstate 10 corridor. Culberson County Sheriff Oscar Carrillo is responsible for covering nearly 4,000 square miles of this dangerous region.
“The drug and human trafficking has always been present and we do not see it changing,” Carrilllo said in his letter to Nehlen. “No longer is getting the contraband interccepted by law enforcement or stolen by rival traffickers just the cost of doing business. The trafficker will no longer submit without a fight or proof of flight. This attitude is why we have an increase in vehicle and foot pursuits, assaults on peace officers, and encounters with armed people.”
“That’s why this give is sincerely appreciated,” the sheriff explained. “Most jurisdictions along the border are not the best funded and lack the life saving equipment to keep our officers safe in the fight against drugs. You witnessed the facial expressions on the officers as they were presented with the rifles and vests.”
The Sheriff Carrillo expressed his personal gratitude saying, “Its people like you that give us the motivation to continue the dangerous task of securing our border communities.”
Nehlen responded to the letters and referenced the saying about walking a mile in someone else’s shoes. Nehlen traveled to the border region and personally experienced what it feels like to be out there in the dark, not knowing who is around the next bush and that backup is far away.
“Well, we hear a lot about the plight of illegals coming across America’s southern border,” Nehlen told Breitbart Texas on Thursday. “Let me tell you this: at any given time of day or night there are hard-working Border Patrol agents, sheriffs, deputies, etc in harms way. They’re families kiss them goodbye each shift wondering if it will be their last. That’s unacceptable.”
“I know first hand the overwhelming sense of ‘it’s just me out here in the dark Texas night.’ Our border is wide open,” the candidate explained. “Cartels such as the Gulf, Los Zetas, and a host of others are not the older generation Sinaloa who think about profits ten years from now. These are ruthless young ‘men’ eager to make a buck on the backs of others.”
“The donation was given to ensure our sheepdogs make it home every shift,” he concluded. “Our nation owes a debt of gratitude for their selfless sacrifice and that of their loved ones. I met heroes on that border – American heroes.”
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