The Challenges of Protecting the Southern Border for a Texas Sheriff's Department

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Southwest Border experienced over 179,000 border encounters in the month of April, putting the U.S. on track to hit 10 million encounters on its borders this fiscal year. As these encounters increase, many local law enforcement agencies located on the border are playing a more vital role in securing their section of the border.

Terrell County Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland is no stranger to protecting the southern border. His law enforcement career began in 1996 when Sheriff Cleveland entered duty with the U.S. Border Patrol, and in 2022 he was officially elected as Terrell County Sheriff, a county in Southwest Texas that touches 54 miles of the U.S.-Mexico Border. In his role, Sheriff Cleveland must ensure the safety of residents in one of the most remote counties in the country with a population around 700 people. In order to do so, Sheriff Cleveland must form partnerships with state and federal agencies to ensure the county has proper personnel and technologies.

This September, Sheriff Cleveland will present at the Border Technology Summit in San Diego, California on his experience as a small-county sheriff on the U.S.-Mexico border. Before the two-day event, Sheriff Cleveland sat down with IDGA to give a