Americans, by a two-to-one margin, fear the surge of illegal immigrants breaching the country’s southern border is helping spread the coronavirus, according to a new poll taken for the National Sheriffs’ Association.

Americans fear border surge is spreading COVID-19.

The sheriffs in border communities deal with the fallout from the border surge, from increasing confrontations with smugglers to rising death tolls from migrants who struggle in rough terrain or lose their footing crossing the Rio Grande.

“Unfortunately, current border security policies have empowered the criminal cartels, human smugglers and traffickers in heroin, methamphetamines and fentanyl, while leaders in Washington, D.C., have remained ineffective at combating this enormous crisis hurting our border communities and briskly moving to the United States’ interior,” said Sheriff Mark Dannels of Cochise County in Arizona, who serves as chair of the NSA’s Border Security Committee.

When it came to COVID-19, 50% said the border surge is helping the spread, compared to just 21% who said it wasn’t

Among conservatives, 65% said the surge is spreading the disease