Hanna: Bexar County Sheriff's Political Grandstanding Reduces Trust in Law Enforcement

SAN ANGELO, TX – Tom Green County Sheriff Nick Hanna had advice for fellow Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar. During his speech to the monthly Pachyderm Club in San Angelo today, the Sheriff spoke on a number of topics including illegal immigration. He said San Antonio's sheriff was grandstanding for the "blue" national media and pulling a political stunt that will harm public trust in law enforcement over Salazar's politically motivated investigation of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' actions last week. 

Desantis last week teamed up with Texas Governor Greg Abbott to fly 48 illegal aliens to the rich and mostly liberal enclave called Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts to show its residents what citizens living near the U.S.-Mexico border live with everyday. For Texas, Governor Greg Abbott has shipped countless buses to Washington D.C. and most recently has sent two buses to the home of Vice President Kamala Harris. DeSantis's two chartered jets struck a nerve with the liberal Democrats, however.

Salazar said Desantis  "lured" illegal migrants from the Migrant Resource Center in San Antonio and coerced 48 of them to board a plane to Martha's Vineyard "under false pretenses." Sheriff Hanna called the investigation 'political pandering.'

"As a Texas sheriff, I take care of business on crime committed in my county and you don't hear about those cases until somebody goes to jail. I don't grandstand for the blue national media, the anti-Heartbeat Bill folks or the Democratic Party elites in Marthas Vineyard." said Sheriff Hanna. "I'm not interested in picking and choosing what laws we enforce. Let's focus on the real abuses of illegal immigration such as the sexual exploitation of young immigrant girls being brought across the border, the instances of illegal smuggling of people and drugs into this country by the cartels, securing our borders, and our national security through legal immigration."

The border situation has grown worse in Texas with thousands of people illegally crossing the border every day. In Del Rio last week, a taxi driver told us that around 1,500 illegal migrants per day were traversing through the border town of 40,000. In Martha's Vineyard residents saw how only 48 unwanted and unexpected people can cause chaos. This was the message that the southern governors were trying to prove to the leftist officials.

Sheriff Hanna offered a suggestion of what kind of crime Salazar needs to focus upon. Back in June in Bexar County, a Semi Truck was found abandoned with over 50 dead illegal migrants in the back. It is believed that this was a human smuggling attempt gone wrong.

"When you have an incident involving the horrific death of 53 human beings that is associated with our insecure border into our county, the transportation of 48 immigrants to Martha's Vineyard hardly seems criminal to me," continued Sheriff Hanna. "It is political pandering plain and simple."

Overall, Sheriff Hanna wanted his constituents to understand that he is not into political games but instead doing the only job voters hired him to perform: upholding the law. 

"We are a country of laws and as a sheriff in Texas, I intend on enforcing those laws devoid of politics. When a sheriff gets involved in a political dispute, it reduces the trust of the citizens in law enforcement to give equal protection under the law," said Sheriff Hanna. "We are seeing that play out now with all the recent news reports about politically motivated federal investigations. In my opinion, Salazar's 'investigation' is a political stepping stone and I bet as time passes, that will be proven."