There’s chaos on our southern border. It’s a humanitarian and national security crisis that threatens the safety of Americans and the Biden administration’s careless rhetoric and progressive policies are undeniably at fault.
In May more than 180,000 illegal immigrants were apprehended by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at our southern border. CBP recently reported this new 21-year high, marking the third consecutive month of record increases.
Despite the skyrocketing number of border apprehensions, the administration continues to deny a crisis exists.
Vice President Harris, the point person tasked by the president to solve it, hasn’t even been to the border to see first-hand the challenges our CBP agents are experiencing as a result of these disastrous policies.
Border facilities are overrun and border patrol agents are being diverted from interior drug checkpoints and regional stations to the Rio Grande Valley. The president’s budget, with no increase in funding to secure our border, offers no hope to border agents that help is on the way.
That message is also another indication to criminal elements like human smugglers and drug traffickers that their inhumane and illegal activities can continue. CBP has arrested convicted sex offenders and four individuals on the FBI’s terrorism watchlist, in addition to having detained dangerous gang members crossing the border.
The failure to enforce our immigration laws is intensifying the flood of crime and drugs into our country. Drug cartels are exploiting the chaos and increasing the flow of lethal drugs like fentanyl into our communities. Last month, more than 900 pounds of fentanyl was seized at the southern border, an increase of more than 300 percent from May 2020.
This unfortunate reality is leading to devastating consequences. In Arkansas, fentanyl has surpassed methamphetamine as the leading cause of overdose deaths.