By Nancy Thorner –
Americans want a secure border and safer communities, but our leadership in Washington is not making this a priority. Vice President Kamala Harris even insists that the border is secure.
Despite the number of illegal migrant arrests setting a pace to surpass a staggering 2 million for the first time ever by the end of Sept., Vice President Harris claims that the border is secure.
Mexico as source of fentanyl
Mexico is now the dominant source for fentanyl coming into the United States, with most of the deadly drug coming in through the southern border.
The report by the bipartisan Commission on Combating Synthetic Opioid Trafficking – which was established by the FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act – said the source of fentanyl into the U.S. has evolved from 2014-2019, when most fentanyl came in from China via international mail.
What about the Fentanyl crisis?
As reported by Stephen Dinan of the Washington Times on Tuesday, August 16, 2022:
Customs and Border Protection reported seizing 2,071 pounds of fentanyl coming in from Mexico in July of 2022. That was 60% more than the previous record, set in April, and more than triple the 640 pounds nabbed in June. It almost equals the amount of fentanyl seized in all of 2019.
That’s worrisome because authorities say the number of seizures is a yardstick for the overall flow. When more fentanyl is found, more is getting through. That means a devastating amount of drugs likely breached the border last month.
Fentanyl death toll
As reported on January 5, 2022, fentanyl is the leading cause of death for ages 18 to 45. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows that fentanyl killed nearly twice as many people as COVID, car accidents, cancer, and suicide.
Just 2 milligrams of fentanyl is considered enough to kill. Given the drug’s lethality, July’s seizures would be enough to slay nearly 470 million people and amount to nearly 1½ doses for every American.
“Now drug traffickers are making rainbow-colored fentanyl that in pill form resembles candy — think SweeTarts — and in block form looks like sidewalk chalk, according to a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration alert.”
“Federal officials say the candy-colored fentanyl is a deliberate attempt to market the drug to children and young adults.”
“The drug has been seized in Northern California, Oregon and Arizona.”
Families devastated by fentanyl deaths rally near White House
April Babcock and Virginia Krieger both lost children to the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl and have pleaded with lawmakers and officials to ramp up enforcement along the U.S.-Mexico border to stop the flow of illicit drugs.
On Saturday, September 17, the mothers built a kind of wall.
“Fifty banners stretched for about 400 feet, nearly spanning the width of the National Mall. They featured faces of nearly 3,500 people who lost their lives to fentanyl. Many were young, even teenagers. Some wore their high school jerseys or graduation caps. They smiled, forever frozen in time on the banners, which Babcock said represented the thousands of people who have died of opioid use.”
“Babcock lost two of her own sons to the drug in 2015 and 2019. She, along with about 400 others, marched to the White House to demand that the government put forth a greater effort to promote public understanding of the synthetic opioid that is 50 times more powerful than heroin.”
Gonzales, Rubio Introduce Bill to Increase Consequences for Fentanyl.
Congressman Tony Gonzales (TX-23) and Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) introduced the Felony Murder for Deadly Fentanyl Distribution Act on Sept. 16, 2022. This bill makes the distribution of fentanyl resulting in death punishable by federal felony murder charges.
“Fentanyl is killing Americans at a record high. This deadly drug is widespread throughout our country and has left no community untouched.
This bill would make drug dealers pay the price for selling deadly fentanyl,” said Senator Rubio. Details follow:
- Dealing in fentanyl, like other felony murder eligible crimes including kidnapping, sexual assault, robbery, and arson, is inherently dangerous to human life.
- Fentanyl incidents at the border have skyrocketed, with law enforcement seizing enough fentanyl and fentanyl-laced substances to kill hundreds of thousands of Americans.
- This bill would make distributors eligible for felony murder when the individual knows, or has reason to know, that the product being sold contains at least 2 grams of a mixture containing fentanyl, or .5 grams of a mixture containing a fentanyl-analog, and when it kills the user.
- Treating fentanyl dealers as murderers expresses the unique lethality of the drug, as well as its potential to kill hundreds of thousands as a result of its distribution.
- China’s announcement to suspend any cooperation with the United States in preventing the trafficking of fentanyl and its precursor chemicals fuels the potential for a sharp increase in deaths from fentanyl and increases the urgency for Congress to act.
In the House co-sponsors include: Ralph Norman (SC-05), Dan Crenshaw (TX-02), Brian Mast (FL-18), David Rouzer (NC-07), Maria Salazar (FL-27), Carlos Gimenez (FL-26), Guy Reschenthaler (PA-14), Ronny Jackson (TX-13), Doug Lamborn (CO-05), Bill Posey (FL-08)
In the Senate co-sponsors include: Tom Cotton (R-AR), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Rick Scott (R-FL), Roger Wicker (R-MS), John Cornyn (R-TX), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Mike Braun (R-IN), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Steve Daines (R-MT), and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) cosponsored the bill.
Many Americans remain uninformed
ABC, NBC, and CBS have given President Biden a pass when covering the ongoing fentanyl crisis, according to a new study from the Media Research Center.
Scott Whitlock analyzed the broadcast network morning and evening newscasts from January 1 through September 15 and found that the fentanyl crisis was covered for nearly 40 combined minutes, but only 30 seconds were devoted to Biden or his role
As for the Biden administration:
Neither the fentanyl crisis nor the border crisis is new. But both are worsened under the disastrous policies of the Biden administration.
“The Department of Homeland Security knows that the policies of the Biden administration are inflaming the border crisis, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas acknowledged to Border Patrol agents that those policies “are not particularly popular with CBP… but that’s the reality.”
What is reality is that the U.S. has lost control of the southern border. If nothing is done to address the problem, every state will continue to see an increase in fentanyl-related medical emergencies and deaths, for nothing that crosses the border stays at the border
Since the federal government is responsible for securing America’s borders, it has failed.
But what could possibly motivate a government to just let people walk into their country? Well, if you give them a bunch of free stuff once they get here, there’s a fair degree of likelihood they’ll vote for you if or when they can.
