America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in
Floor Speech
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Mr. TUBERVILLE. Madam President, during the first few months of President Biden's term, he has tried to brush off the surge of illegal immigrant apprehensions as nothing more than a seasonal trend. But after month 6, seasonal migration was no longer a valid explanation for what turned out to be a recordbreaking year.
This border surge wasn't by accident. President Biden pledged to enact an open border agenda by halting border wall construction, reversing successful Trump-era immigration policies, and hamstringing our law enforcement officers. It was one promise he has kept. And over a year into the Biden administration, we are seeing the consequences of that promise.
Just last year, nearly 2 million illegal immigrants were apprehended at our southern border from more than 160 different countries. And for 2022, it looks like we are on track to exceed that record, as this February was the 12th--the 12th--consecutive month with over 100,000 illegal immigrant apprehensions. And if President Biden's administration stops invoking title 42, and it doesn't secure the border, the crisis is going to be dramatically different.
A lot of attention is paid to who is coming across the border, and rightfully so, but it is time we all turn our attention to what is coming across the border, and it is called deadly fentanyl.
Just as our border continues to be overwhelmed by illegal immigrants, our communities are overwhelmed with this lethal drug. I have been to the border, and I have seen firsthand the impact of President Biden's open border policies and agenda.
At a checkpoint in McAllen, TX, I saw a truck bed filled with fentanyl, filled to the brim--a deadly synthetic opioid.
Thankfully, our Border Patrol officer stopped this particular truck from making it across the border, but for that one being stopped, there are several more that get across the border. Thankfully, our Border Patrol officer stopped this truck, stopped it from making it across the border, and it saved many lives. But for every truck of fentanyl, many, many more continue to come across.
It is hard to understand the significance of a truck bed full of fentanyl, so just let me break it down.
Look at my chart. Two milligrams of fentanyl is considered a lethal dose; 2 milligrams is the weight of a mosquito. Ten pennies weigh one ounce. One ounce of fentanyl can kill nearly 30,000 people. A football weighs 1 pound. Just 1 pound of fentanyl can kill over 200,000 people.
In October of last year, in South Alabama, Baldwin County sheriff deputy seized 14 grams of fentanyl. That is enough to kill upward of 7,000 people. And, of course, in any arrest, sometimes you have problems with fentanyl. One of his deputies just happened to touch fentanyl and was immediately put into the hospital.
We are seizing these deadly drugs across America every day. Last year, in San Diego, a trucker was arrested after attempting to smuggle more than 389 pounds of fentanyl, which is enough to kill 88 million people.
The connection between President Biden's open border policies and the rise of fentanyl is clear, and the American people are paying a heavy, heavy price.
Since President Biden's inauguration, Customs and Border Protection seized nearly 3,000 pounds of illicit fentanyl. That is a 41-percent increase from last year.
Over the last year, opioids took the lives of over 100,000 Americans. To put that into perspective, that is half the size of our capital city in the State of Alabama, which would be almost wiped off the map. This is bone-chilling.
But these numbers are more important than a stat. They are the sons and daughters, the mothers and fathers, the brothers and sisters who were all taken too soon--bright futures darkened by deadly drug addiction.
I spent 40 years traveling across this country visiting young athletes and their families from every walk of life. I had players who battled addiction or who had close friends who battled addiction. It is a heartbreaking procedure to watch a student worry about stepping in for a parent who is suffering from addiction. That happens daily. When they should be only worrying about studying or getting ready for a game, they are also covering for parents who are addicted to drugs.
It is true that drug addiction has plagued our country for decades, but we have seen a sharp rise since the pandemic: isolations, loss of work, depression, all making the problem worse. And the data confirms this. So it only makes sense to do all we can to help Americans. That would include cutting off the drugs at the primary source, which is the southern border. Yet the President refuses to take decisive action to stop these deadly substances from flooding into the country.
In fact, the answer from the Biden administration is there will be a strategy for dealing with addiction and fentanyl crisis coming ``soon.''
When President Biden's drug czar, Dr. Gupta, was asked about the administration's plans to address the addiction crisis, he responded that the drug control strategy was in its ``advanced stages of being finalized.''
To that I say, Americans are losing their lives right now. Lives are being lost every day when we are coming up with a strategy. We don't need a bureaucratic talking point or a bureaucrat wasting our time. We need a plan--and we need a plan now--to stop these drugs.
Since President Biden has been in office, he has failed to take charge in every situation. Sadly, the drug overdose epidemic is no different. While the folks at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue continue to work on their strategy, I propose President Biden take a logical and long- overdue first step today: enforce our immigration laws at the border-- that would be a great start--end the free flow of fentanyl, and stop the loss of innocent lives.
For a White House that is so laser-focused on the health of Americans as it relates to the pandemic--masks, 6 feet apart, airports--the same emphasis should be cast on the people's lives that we are losing and the deadly drugs coming into our country illegally.
By creating and then failing to address this disastrous situation at the southern border, President Biden has fueled another crisis as fentanyl ravages our communities.
You know, we all watched this weekend as President Biden gave a great speech in Poland. He put the wrath down on the Russian people, military, and the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin. He showed anger--and he should have--at the destruction that is going on in Ukraine and the innocent lives lost.
President Biden needs to show the same anger. We will lose more people in the next 6 months than they will lose in this war in Ukraine--people in our country--and it is being overlooked. It is not being worked on. The problem is not trying to be answered. It is like we are having to just deal with it.
We have got a problem here, Mr. President, and we need to address it.
The President has the tools and the authority to act quickly and save lives. I just hope, sooner or later, somebody recognizes it and does something about it because, as we speak, we are not answering this problem.
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