American Sheriff Mark Lamb’s fight for freedom, border security, and rule of law

Sheriff Mark Lamb is nicknamed the American Sheriff for good reason. Every day, Sheriff Lamb protects the freedom and safety of the citizens he serves. He is determined to uphold the Constitution and fights against government overreach with courage and love for this country. Watch now for truth about the media, mandates, and the horror that’s happening on the southern border.Show more

Want daily news without the liberal slant? Subscribe to First Right at https://www.restorationofamerica.com/first-right/

(MACHINE GENERATED)
Gerald Ewalt: Welcome to the First Right Podcast, a weekly conservative news show brought to you by Restoration of America. I'm Jerry Ewalt Chief Marketing Officer for Restoration America, and today we are blessed to have Sheriff Mark Lamb of Pinal County in Arizona. Sheriff Lamb is known across the country as the American Sheriff for his strong views on how a sheriff's office ought to operate in a nation increasingly hostile to law enforcement. Sheriff Mark, welcome to the show.

Sheriff Mark Lamb: I appreciate it. Thanks for having me on. And I know we've been trying to do this for a while, so thank you for your patience.

Gerald Ewalt: Yeah, no, well, you're a busy man, so we, we appreciate you finding time to meet with us and yeah, it's, it's truly an honor to have you on and as I was kind of looking through some of your bio and things like that, I came across this. I'm gonna read it cuz I think it does a perfect job of summarizing who you are and I'll let you comment on it. But what it says on the government website for penal, it says, as a constitutional conservative, mark has strong convictions and is courageous in fighting for the citizens he serves. Mark believes strongly in our republic and our constitution, he has a strong supporter, our Second Amendment rights and the enforcement of all of our laws, including those that pertain to fighting illegal immigration. And he is determined to protect the rights and freedoms of the people whom he serves. Mark, I love that. I think that is such a strong statement. I'll let you comment on it.

Sheriff Mark Lamb: Well, you know, I think that that is the first and foremost we should all be cognizant of the Constitution. You know, every elected official in this country pretty much swears some similar oath, which is to the Constitution that will protect it against all enemies, foreign and domestic. And I've had reporters come and ask me, they say, well, why are you so political? And I said, well, first of all, I'm responding to political actions taken by government. But number two, I said, you asking them why they're not following the constitution upholding their oath because I'm upholding my oath. So I I wear the badge proudly of a constitutional elected official and a constitutional sheriff and will always say, well, I can talk like this. You're, you're the government. And I said, I'm not the government, I'm your county sheriff. My job is to protect you from the bad guys and from government Aries. And I do it with courage and I try to stand up where I can for my people regardless of how difficult it

Gerald Ewalt: Yeah, I That is, that is clear. And that statement makes it clear, but you also have backed it up with your service over the many, many years as sheriff and I, I guess this is probably why they call you America Sheriff.

Sheriff Mark Lamb: You know, they, Dave Clark takes America's sheriff, they call me American Sheriff. And I actually was looking for a charity name for a company name. I saw American Sheriff was available american sheriff.com. So I was like, oh shit, I'm gonna take it. It was kind of, it's a long story, but it was by accident that I started using that moniker and it just kind of stuck. And really, it's not saying that I'm the American sheriff, I'm basically saying I am an American sheriff and I represent other sheriffs who are American sheriffs because the Office of Sheriff is very unique to America and awesome position that really gives us the authority to protect the people, to protect their constitutional rights. And I, I try to value that and I try to encourage other sheriffs to also jump on board and be American sheriffs.

Gerald Ewalt: Well, I, I wanna, I wanna expand upon that. I'm br I'm glad you brought up sheriff, right? Cuz what, what we seem to be seeing is across the country, people like you, sheriffs like you are standing up for the constitution, are standing against this anti law enforcement movement. This, this woke movement that we're seeing so much and we see sheriffs doing this across the country. Why is it that sheriffs are doing this and we see much less of police chiefs doing the same thing? What's going on there?

Sheriff Mark Lamb: That's a great question and I try to explain this when I talk to people. Police chiefs are hired by cities, by people who are elected by the people. So basically they're gonna do the bidding of whoever they're elected or whoever they're, they're, they're gi gives them the job and you see some police chiefs stand up, but for the most part they're doing what that that city council or, or the town council is asking him them to do. On the other hand, the sheriff is elected by the people I work, I don't have a boss, I don't work for the governor, I don't work for a, a city council or a board of supervisors. I don't work for the president, I work for the people of canal count. And there's power in that. Because if I don't think it's right for the people of my county, I can say, nah, we're not gonna do that.
It's not constitutional, it goes against what we believe. It doesn't, it's not good for my people. It affects their rights, it affects their freedoms. And those are the things that we as sheriffs can stand up for where police chiefs, they may lose their, they can still do it. I always tell people, you can still do it, you can still stand up for what's right. You may lose your job. But that's, you know, that's what we call sacrifice. And that's what the founding fathers understood that we as Americans have gotten soft and we've gotten away from what sacrifice really means. And now we're starting to have to actually do some sacrificing, whether it's family or friends or jobs or money or whatever it is. We're now seeing whether you actually have the courage enough to be like the founding fathers and sacrifice what you have and everything you have, your reputation, your money, whatever it is for what you believe in and for what freedom means to you.

Gerald Ewalt: Well, amen to that. I think we're seeing that not, not only in within law enforcement, we're seeing that across the board. You know, healthcare has been a, obviously under major attack recently of take the shots, do what we're telling you, and if you don't, you lose your job. So a lot of people feel forced to do things. Same thing with law enforcement. I think all the people that you have under you, same thing is happening, right. You, you're, you're being told by a police chief, right, that you must enforce these types of laws and do these types of actions, even if it's unconstitutional, even if it goes against what the people want, they're stuck there. And you're saying under a sheriff, you're answering to the people more than you would if, if as a boss, as a police chief.

Sheriff Mark Lamb: Yeah. Anybody who knows anything about me knows I stood against the lockdowns. I defied our, our governor tried to extend it and I said, nah, we're not doing that here in our county. I stood against the mass mandates. I told our board, don't you dare enact a mass mandate cuz I won't enforce I'll, I'll, I'll pass every phone call that comes in about masks onto your offices. But I will never restrict people's rights. I've encouraged churches and other people to exercise their, their constitutional rights and freedom to be able to do it regardless of whether people were freaking out over the covid or not. I came out early on and said, we will never mandate the vaccine at our sheriff's office. And as long as I'm the sheriff, we will always fight against that. That's a personal choice that every person should be able to make and they shouldn't have their employment held over their head for it. And people said, well, you're a conspiracy theorist, nobody's gonna force this. It wasn't a week later that people started forcing the, the, the vaccine. So look, I've, I've stood for things that I believe in and I believe are constitutional and look, I fight for people's rights to say things that I don't agree with too, because I believe it's their constitutional rights. So Right. I I try to see the playing field evenly and not put my personal feelings in it up for what

Gerald Ewalt: Yeah, no, thank you for, for that courage. And I know you're not the only one. You, you're, you're, you're speaking on behalf of a lot of people here, but there's a lot of people in the sheriff's departments across the country that did exactly what you did. And you look at those communities and they're thriving for the most part because you're standing for constitutional rights. So thank you for that courage to do that. So I know another thing that you've been really big into and and rightfully so, is the dangers posed by the invasion in the southern border. Right? So you're in Arizona, you're a pen county, which is between what Tucson and Phoenix, not exactly on the border, but it's what you call, what would call a pastor county. So what we see, you're still very susceptible, your county to drug smuggling and human trafficking dangerous. How, how is that going? Are are things, what's the situation we're seeing today there? Is it getting better?

Sheriff Mark Lamb: No, it's going horrible. Yeah, it's getting worse. I mean, last December was the worst month for apprehensions that we've had in the last two years. So it's not getting better. We just started a series on Facebook that we just kicked off yesterday. It's called 71 Miles in Running because we, where the I 10 interstate with my county line is 71 miles north of the border and we're showing how deep America these people already are. If you go into the deserts on the south end of my county, it's about 50 miles off the border where they actually come through my county line and into America, well into America already. And these are people that are trafficking, they're trafficking, human being, trafficking, drugs. This is not about immigration folks. This is about human trafficking, drug trafficking in America. And we fight every day to stop that. We have pursuits almost every day. We're stopping people from being trafficked by the cartels every day. We're fighting every day. But this administration is doing everything they can to undo what we're trying to

Gerald Ewalt: Well look, I mean, what you're telling us, and, and we, I think we all know this, but this is a war and this isn't about immigration. So I know people have different opinions on who should be letting the country and who shouldn't. This is totally different. This is letting people come across the country, across the border, sorry. And, and trafficking drugs, trafficking people, people are dying. People are at at tremendous risk right now. And so it's not about immigration.

Sheriff Mark Lamb: No, it's not about immigration. People, women are being forced into the sex trade. Look, the cartel understands how many times, can I sell you a pill once, but how many times can I sell you a woman or a child? Hundreds. And the cartels understand that I would venture to say that slavery is, is is as prolific if not more prolific than it's ever been in this country. And we are allowing that to happen on our watch under the guise of thinking you're being humane by letting these borders be open. But what you're really doing is you're creating a pathway for the cartels to enslave men and women and children, whether they're extorting, the forcing the women and the children and the, the, to the sex trade here in America, there was 130,000 unaccompanied minors that came in in 21. Do you realize that there's been 40,000, I think it was in the last year, 40,000 people that were stopped at the border who had been convicted of crimes here in America and sent back, or who were wanted by law enforcement.
Were here in America 40,000. You almost let 40,000 criminals back into this country. So it's not about immigration, this is about protecting American lives in American communities. And then I'll, I'll just throw this one back out and then get it back to you, is the fentanyl has become the leading cause of death in America amongst Americans. So when you talk about invasions, I say these are terrorists. They're instilling fear in the hearts of American families across America, whether it's through crime or whether it's through the drugs, getting into the hands of their loved ones claiming poisoning 107,000 plus lives last year, 2021, and about 300 American lives every day. If we had a war going on where we were losing that amount of Americans, this would be the f at the top of the news every single day. I mean, they gave you the covid numbers every day, but they refused to tell you the amount of American lives being lost to fentanyl every day. And that is appalling that your government refuses to talk about it. They should tell you everything you need to know about who not to vote for the next time.

Gerald Ewalt: Yeah, mark, there's no other way to describe it, but it's but evil, I mean this is, they, they know what's going on. So what I, and I don't want to get frustrated. I know you get extremely frustrated. You're doing this every day. What, what are you doing to to, to make a difference here? Like how can you make an impact here? I'm, I'm just curious.

Sheriff Mark Lamb: Well, I I open my big mouth all the time. Like every chance I I come on these podcasts, I want to talk about what is happening here, the reality of it. Because the mainstream media for, you know, most, most of your main mainstream media sources are given the people a snow jump or they're telling them that we're exaggerating it or making stuff that they not what it is, I mean, tell you that the cartel cuts people into pieces or harvests children's organs. We're not telling you this cause we're making it up. These are things that are really happening. And then when we don't secure our borders, we're we are helping this kind of behavior, we are contributing to the deaths of Americans by not closing our borders. And this government, you wanna just make one thing, the government, not only are they not doing their job, they actually will fight against you when you try to do your job. I mean, we tried to put those, those containers up as a main wall because the government was failing to do their job and they forced the state of Arizona to take 'em back down the costing us taxpayers more money and also leaving us vulnerable again.

Gerald Ewalt: Yeah. So what other conclusion can you come to, other than the fact that they want this to happen? I mean, it sounds insane, but what you're telling me is that they even work against you. Not only is this happening, but they're actually preventing you from doing your job for security. Our bar.

Sheriff Mark Lamb: So the average, the average American doesn't deal in, in how bad human beings can be. Unfortunately in law enforcement, we know the depths of evil that humans can go to. So when you hear that somebody might be doing this on purpose, the average American says, no, they won't. Yes they will. Especially if it means that they can gain more power over you. People think it's oftentimes about money, but it's really about power. This administration said two years ago when they were, they said they wanted to reinvent America. That set off alarms in my head because when you talk about reinventing something, you have to tear it down and build it back up. And the one thing that you have to do in America to really destroy America, you have to undermine the rule of law, which this administration consistently does. And one of the most, one of the best places to undermine the rule of law is that your southern border.
Because what it does right, is that floods our, in our communities with unknown quantities of people from who knows where. And you've gotta be naive or an idiot to believe that everybody that comes into this country has good intentions for America. There are many people who hate this country and are looking for opportunities to make, make our lives miserable here in this country or to hurt us or to kill us. So this is, this is a bad thing. And when you don't close your borders, you are undermining the rule of law. You're flooding our communities with drugs. And if you really wanna reinvent America, that's the way you would do it. So look, I've seen enough to know over the last two years this has to be on purpose.

Gerald Ewalt: Yeah. I it it it's, it's a mess. It's, it's a mess. And I you, you mentioned earlier, earlier, you know, we know who to vote for and who not to, but, you know, Arizona just went through an election last year, right? And now, you know, we had a chance Arizona had a chance to really do something about the border problem, but instead they chose not to. Right. I mean, I know it was a close election, but we're seeing more woke people coming into the, the, the top government offices in Arizona. What, what happened there, mark? Are people not understanding what you're seeing day to day?

Sheriff Mark Lamb: No, obviously we're not doing a great job of getting that messaging out there. And I, I think that you gotta remember, Americans don't move the needle much unless their lives are personally affected. And the average American made more money last year than they probably ever have. And so they're, they're quality of life and their day-to-day life has not been affected enough for them to, to, to change the way they vote. Unfortunately, I think that we can do better in the state of Arizona as a Republican party. We've really let the, we've dropped the ball. I thought Carrie Lake was an amazing person and candidate. I was really sad to see that she didn't get in there as the governor. But we've definitely gotta make some changes here. I will say that Arizona is still a red state, contrary to what our politics may show. Cause you look at Kimberly, for example, she won by 11%.
She's a are Republican treasurers. So there the votes are out there. We've gotta do a better job of making sure that all the voters wanna vote for you. Yeah. And look, I'm seriously considering making a run at Senate. I honestly am. I just, I love being the sheriff, but I'm, I'm fed up, you know, I'm tired and I, I feel like I, who am I to sit on the sidelines and wait for somebody else to, to do it? So I'm, I'm seriously considering it and we'll take a look. My family and I will have to make some, some serious decision.

Gerald Ewalt: Yeah, no, I I there's a lot, a lot of prayers involved in that. That's not an easy decision. But yeah, we need people like you making an impact in our country. So I I'm, I'm sure God will guide you in the direction you need to go in. So now, and, and so what, with the, the election last year, do you see a lot of changes coming to Arizona based on new leadership or different leadership, I should say?

Sheriff Mark Lamb: Absolutely. You know, our governor has already removed some funding. I wish disappointed to see that she did that. Look, I try to give everybody the benefit of the doubt. I have not been tried. I, I hope to see this governor succeed. I want any governor, I want President Biden. As much as I disagree with him, I want him to succeed. I'm not here to undercut anybody. I look forward to with Governor Hobbs and figuring out how we can work together to make sure our community is safe when we protect the people's constitutional rights. I was disappointed to see funding removed for school choice. I was disappointed to see that they've removed the funding for Border Strike Force money that's supposed to come to the sheriffs for us to be able to protect our community from, from what's coming across the border, like drugs and human trafficking. So yeah, I was a little disappointed. But the good thing about Arizona is that our legislature, our state senate are, are of one party. And so it makes things for the gov Governor has a hard time being able to do a lot legislatively. They can make some excessive decisions, but I think even legislatively, a lot of that funding ultimately will come to us. I don't think she has quite the authority to remove things that have already been legislatively voted.

Gerald Ewalt: Well, well, you definitely have the right attitude for this, right? There's no, there's no giving up crawling in a ball and hiding or, or, you know, crying to yourself. It's, it's, let's, let's get more motivated, get out there, get the word out and keep fighting day after day. And so I, I love that. And now, now Mark, I this isn't gonna come into a as a shock to you. I know it, but I don't think the mainstream media likes you very much.

Sheriff Mark Lamb: No, no, I don't think they do either. You know, I don't think they, like anybody who speaks truth or who's not afraid of them, no. They're, we've run into a society of bullies where if they, if you don't believe the way they want you to believe, then they wanna bully you and they wanna disparage you, and they wanna say bad things about you. And they'll use the media to do that. And that's really unfortunate because America was built on different ideas. Look, I don't, a lot, lot of, some of my best friends as sheriffs are actually Democrat sheriffs, very liberal sheriffs. But you know what, we have good conversations, which is what America was built on. We can have differences of opinions, but in the end, we fight for rights to see and, and believe different things. And we've gotten away from that as Americans.
And it's disappointing. And I think it's both parties. I'm not saying it's one party or the other. Both Republicans and Democrats have failed the leader, the elected officials, I don't even wanna call 'em leaders if they haven't been. The people we have elected to serve us, have failed us. They've increased our taxes. They've de our, our, our our dollar. They've, they've done everything they can to make life more difficult for us in many cases. And I, it's disappointing and I would hope that more people out there listening that, that don't like what's going on, that you might have the courage to step up and, and find yourself in public. Well, look, I never thought I would do this, and I certainly don't look forward to going to any other offices, but at the same time, I look at what the sacrifices the founding fathers made to give us the freedoms we have. And I'll do everything. I'll be damned if I, I'm gonna on the sideline and allow this country to be drugged down and, and, and become something that it wasn't designed to be.

Gerald Ewalt: Well, we'll mark it at Restoration of America. This is what we try to do the same thing. We're trying to motivate and inspire people to stand up and speak up just like you are doing right now. So do you have any advice for people that are encountering the same kind of attacks that you are and they're, they're deciding whether or not they're gonna speak up, what any advice for them?

Sheriff Mark Lamb: Yeah. Those who mind don't matter and those who matter, don't mind. And then also you've, you've gotta realize those people that are, are hateful towards you. It's not you, it's them. Yeah. And here's one of the biggest things though. Rolo May, in his book, man's Search for himself had a great quote. He said, the opposite of courage is not cowardice, it's conformity. So you cannot conform. That's what they want you to do, is conform. You have to have the courage to say, Hey, wait, this doesn't seem right. And I don't like it. It doesn't go along with the Constitution, whether it's that amendment, first Amendment, fourth Amendment, whatever it is, these are things that don't go along with the Constitution. And you, you know, in your heart, it's not right. You've gotta have the courage to tell people it's not right. Because if you continue to be a conformist, that's what they bank on.
They bank on the fact that you'll follow the rest of the herd into the shoot. And I refuse to beat that guy that goes into the, unless I think it's the truth. So I say, don't be afraid to speak the truth and have the courage to, to stand up and look, I, I let God guide my life in the way that I, I do things and I trust that he'll protect me. And in the end, I surrendered the outcome to whatever it is. But I'll be, I believe in being the person that I was designed and meant to be. And I think we need more people that will stand up for their convictions. I have a lot of people that don't agree with me, but will respect me because I stick to my guns and I stand for the principles that I believe in.

Gerald Ewalt: Yeah. I mean, look, I I I I clearly see God's hand on your life, and I'm just, I, I'm so grateful that people like you and I know there's many out there that are standing up doing the right things. And, and so I, I wanna say thank you and I know we all thank you our country. Thanks you for everything that you're doing. Sheriff Mark Lamb, thank you so much for, for joining us.

Sheriff Mark Lamb: And you know what? I appreciate it. I just wanna say thank you to everybody out there. My family experienced the tragedy in December where I lost my son, my granddaughter, and my daughter-in-law, in a traffic accident hit by a what looks to be like a drunk driver. But I just wanna say thank you to everybody for all the prayers, all the support, honestly, our faith, God and Jesus Christ, and the prayers of so many supportive people. Just so many great people have honestly been what's carried us through. And so I just wanna take this opportunity for anybody out there who's been praying for us and supported us. Thank you. I appreciate

Gerald Ewalt: Yeah. We've all been praying for you. And we'll continue to do that because I know what you're under and the attacks that you've been under as well. So again, thank you.

Sheriff Mark Lamb: Thank you. God bless, and thanks for having me on.

Gerald Ewalt: All right, well, that's our show for today. Thank you so much for tuning in and supporting conservative media. Don't ever forget that by working together and staying diligent, we conservatives can bring our country back the true greatness. Until next week, let's all keep praying that God will continue to bless America

First. Right? A new kind of new summary without the liberal slant Every morning in your inbox, always free subscribe by texting first right to 301 61. That's first, right? All caps one word to 3 0 1 61.