TOLEDO, Ohio — At the request of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Ohio Gov. Mike Dewine dispatched 14 troopers and supervisors from the Ohio State Highway Patrol to the U.S. southern border in July. OSHP troopers and supervisors were sent there to assist with surveillance at the border, but they were not tasked with making arrests.
State Rep. Haraz Ghanbari (R-Perrysburg) said he was once part of the White House press corps and is no stranger to travel, so he jumped at the opportunity to see the “humanitarian crisis” firsthand.
“I will tell you, the problem is real,” Ghanbari said. “Not just from the humanitarian crisis that is going on down there, seeing families crossing the border, trying to come over here, and maybe 100 yards to the left, or the right of where they're crossing in the river are our ports of entry. And so they go to the ports of entry. That's the legal way to go. But for many of them, they don't want to go through that port of entry. Because oftentimes, there are individuals that are mixing with those families that have bad intentions, maybe trafficking drugs, human trafficking, sex trafficking, there's a lot of things that originate on our southern border. And as we saw some and they make their way right up here to northwest Ohio.”
Ghanbari is referring to a number of recent arrests reported by WTOL 11 Investigates about not only border patrol security in northwest Ohio, but also drug seizures along the I-75-Ohio Turnpike corridor.
“I'm the son of an immigrant to this country. And I believe that the diversity of our country is what makes our country so great,” Ghanbari said. “I fully support folks that are desiring to come here to raise their families to work in our communities to help invest in our communities, but I believe it has to be done legally.”
During the interview with WTOL 11, Ghanbari also said he sees an immigration crisis moving closer to home.
“We have a northern border as well. And a lot of the folks that historically have crossed the southern border, they're now making their way up to Canada,” he said. “And this is from a border patrol agent that has told me this, they're now making their way up to Canada, and they're crossing illegally from the northern border. And they're coming back here to our community.”
The spotlight was on Ohio once again this week, as voters were asked to turn out for an Aug. 8 special election. On the ballot was a measure that attempted to require future changes to the state constitution to win the support of 60% of voters instead of a straight majority.
In northwest Ohio, Lucas, Ottawa and Wood Counties all voted no on Issue 1. The surrounding counties voted yes.
“For me, I believe it's important that we safeguard the Constitution, period, meaning not to move the goalposts for any potential constitutional ballot initiative that would be coming down the road,” Ghanbari said.
You can hear more of the conversation with Ghanbari on Leading Edge, which airs Sunday at 8:30 a.m. And, we check in with NAI Harmon’s Steve Harmon and gauge the interest in commercial real estate and what’s going to happen to all the empty office space in northwest Ohio.
