A presidential candidate with a familiar name visited Yuma this week.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., son of the late U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy, was in the Yuma area to see firsthand about the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Kennedy Jr. was out early Tuesday morning where he saw a group of migrants being processed by border patrol agents. He also met with local law enforcement and elected officials Tuesday and Wednesday, including Yuma Mayor Doug Nicholls and Yuma County Sheriff Leon Wilmot.
Kennedy Jr. said he visited the Regional Center for Border Health in Somerton where health workers give migrants health screenings and help them arrange travel plans. He called it "an open border" that is leaving communities like those in Yuma County with having to serve migrants.
“The response (in the Yuma area) has been absolutely inspiring because this is a failure of the federal government," Kennedy Jr. said. "And yet this little town is shouldering the burden of that and doing it in a way that is just inspiring in that they’re taking people in here.”
Kennedy Jr. also met with local farmers and said migrants walking across farm fields and defecating in irrigation canals threatens the safety of that food supply.
Kennedy Jr. is one of two Democrats so far who will challenge President Joe Biden in 2024. Marianne Williamson is the other.
NPR reports Kennedy Jr. is an anti-vaccine activist who has been criticized by his own family. He's been embraced by many on the political right who have adopted anti-vax views.
The former president's former adviser and election-denier Steve Bannon has publicly suggested Kennedy Jr. should enter the Republican primary. The conspiracy theorist Roger Stone has his own suggestion that the former president should pick Kennedy Jr. as his running mate.
In 2021, Kennedy Jr. was blocked from Instagram after he repeatedly undercut trust in vaccines. Kennedy also spread conspiracy theories about Bill Gates, accusing him of profiteering off vaccines and attempting to take control of the world's food supply.
