A Tuscon-area restaurateur sharply criticized President Biden’s soft-on-crime and open borders policies for transforming his family-friendly neighborhood into a crime hotspot.
Grant Kreuger, owner of Union Hospitality Group, told Fox News that central Arizona’s decline has left him “terrified” and said the change apparently came as Biden entered the White House.
“We’ve had more crimes at my restaurant establishments in the last four years than in the previous 15 combined,” he said.
Tuscon saw a 300 percent increase in homeless people experiencing homelessness between 2018 and 2023, which Kreuger said has sparked a crime wave, including an alarming increase in random attacks on its own customers.
Grant Kreuger, owner of Union Hospitality Group, spoke about the rampant homelessness and drug use blighting the Tuscon area, leaving him and his clients “terrified.”
Homelessness increased by 60 percent in Tuscany between 2018 and 2023, and unsheltered homelessness increased by a staggering 300 percent in that period, according to a government report.
The businessman said his restaurant was previously located in one of the “nicest areas of the city,” but the rise in homelessness and crime has led to a sharp decline.
In particular, Kreuger blamed weak border policies for allowing drugs to flood Tuscon, and said his own children often deal with open-air drug use.
“Frankly, I am terrified for my own children to see this level of open drug use and distribution in broad daylight on the streets of our city,” he said.
Kreuger added that he has personally spent tens of thousands of dollars on security because he says police routinely fail to crack down.
“It’s gotten to the point where we often don’t even report it to the authorities because we feel, frankly, that there’s very little they’re going to do,” he said.
‘Currently our municipalities do not enforce many laws regarding public camping, begging… urinating, defecating or openly consuming alcohol and drugs in public.
‘And the lack of enforcement of all these laws has made things enormously worse here in the desert.
“On top of that, the open border policies we’ve had over the last few years have brought a huge supply of fentanyl into our community.”
Tuscon has seen an alarming increase in drug use in recent years, which Kreuger attributed to weak border policies that allowed drugs like fentanyl to flood into the city.
A volunteer is seen helping a homeless woman in Tucson, Arizona, in July 2023.
TO government report published in May 2023 found that Pima County has experienced an alarming increase in homelessness in recent years.
The report found that over the five-year period, the number of homeless people – those sleeping rough on the streets rather than in shelters – increased by 300 percent. The total number of homeless people increased by 60 percent.
During that time, Kreuger said the 100-mile stretch of riverwalk called ‘The Loop’ where his businesses are located has lost its safe, family-friendly appeal.
“These areas of The Loop have become a major area for homeless encampments,” he said.
“There was a time when this Loop was a huge benefit to both the community and our customers… Now it’s a place I would be afraid to take my friends and family.”
The crisis has directly affected Kreuger’s restaurants, he says, as several customers have been physically attacked while dining.
“I don’t mean an attack like verbally asking for a change, but a physical attack,” he said, adding that there have also been “many, many awkward exchanges” that he never used to deal with.
Kreuger said his restaurants are in an area called ‘The Loop’ (pictured), which used to be one of the ‘nicer areas’ and now he said he’s ‘afraid’ to take his kids there.
Kreuger reportedly claimed that a local community anti-crime initiative has been working to reduce the problem, such as adding anti-panhandling signs at intersections where homeless encampments are common, but said efforts are not up to par. height.
“There is literally no law enforcement,” he said.
‘We are paying what we call a crime tax, the cost of the city and county’s lack of enforcement of the current laws that are in effect right now is essentially costing business owners like me an enormous amount of money.
‘It also creates situations that are substantially less comfortable for our customers.
‘No one wants to be approached by homeless people in their parking lot, have their car broken into, or find people living in the bushes or behind various facilities in the various commercial establishments we have here in Tucson.
“And so it really has been a cost that has fallen on the private sector because of the inability or unwillingness of the public sector to enforce the laws that are already in place.”
