Fentanyl is a scourge that affects every community and every ethnic group, leaving a horrific trail of misery and death, especially among young Americans 18-45. Our leaders are often quick to point out the senseless and tragic loss of life, yet not enough take meaningful action to save lives and address this growing epidemic. There are things we can do to stop the flood of fentanyl in our communities, and that starts with strong national security and closing our border.
Career politicians and big government advocates like Dick Blumenthal reflexively call for more federal resources, but they continue to leave our border patrol and those securing our nation left with one hand tied behind their back. Stopping the invasion at our federal border is critical to stopping the flow of illegal drugs into the United States.
Joe Biden has made our border crisis worse. Upon taking office, he halted the building of the border wall and concurrent surveillance and interdiction measures. He then instructed the Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Immigration and Naturalization Service to stop enforcing the law and instead to basically become case workers for the masses of illegal migrants crossing the border.
We cannot be certain (because so many who have crossed illegally have not been counted), but it has been reported that up to 4.9 million people have surged across the southern border since Biden was inaugurated. The Mexican cartels are trafficking in human beings: women, children and men, and flooding our country with fentanyl. China is the number one supplier of fentanyl to the United States, which is then smuggled by the cartels allowing them to make hundreds of millions of dollars a week, smuggling in enough fentanyl to kill millions of Americans.
The most obvious solution is to secure the border. End the open-door policy, do not allow the massive influx of illegal migrants into our country. Allow the Border Patrol, INS and ICE to do their real jobs. Use electronic surveillance, drones, Border Patrol, National Guard troops and yes, build a wall where feasible. In 2020, illegal entry had slowed to a trickle. Now the only ones benefiting are the cartels and the Chinese whose coffers are overflowing from this human disaster, created and approved by President Biden, Dick Blumenthal and all the career politicians who refuse to act.
Not only is our nation facing the tragedy of lives lost to fentanyl overdoses, but the cartels and traffickers, while being enriched by bringing these drugs into our nation, are also raping, murdering and enslaving men, women and children. Worse still, many children who are taken are from small, poor villages with no ID and no way to trace them. There have been additional reports that the people trafficked are forced to wear wristbands in different colors depending on how much money they owe for having been smuggled into our country, and many are murdered by cartels or die before ever reaching the border. Many who make it can be sold to sexual predators, into slavery or for organ harvesting. What is compassionate or kind about this horrific human catastrophe? Weak border security empowers cartels and fuels this evil.
Under Biden, we’ve also seen an increase of domestically produced fentanyl and the role of criminal gangs like MS-13 distributing the deadly drug. This international gang was virtually eliminated in the last administration, has not only been resurrected but has flourished since the open border has allowed them to replenish their ranks.
As a result, American people are facing multiple threats: to national security, public health and personal safety in their communities. These threats are eclipsed by the most serious threat of all: the elimination of our future by the killing of our children with fentanyl.
What is the solution? Enforce the laws! Enforce both the immigration laws on the border, our criminal laws domestically and end revolving door justice. Incarcerate these fiends!
The Justice Department should be charged with eliminating the scourge of fentanyl in our country rather than pursuing political vendettas and partisan agendas. Allow our law enforcement agencies and police departments to do their jobs, restore and increase their funding, and where it has been removed, restore their qualified immunity. Support and empower police to keep our children safe from fentanyl pushers and other bad actors.
Our leaders can and should be working to address fentanyl deaths across our country. The loss of life is tragic, and it is hurting our communities. Lifesaving Narcan, addiction counseling, and other measures to help our communities are critical. But we must take a holistic approach, and when career politicians like Biden and Blumenthal refuse to close the border or properly empower law enforcement and the Justice Department, we will only see the scourge of fentanyl continue in Connecticut and across the country. We can and must do better.