Crisis At the Southern Border

Floor Speech

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Ms. MALLIOTAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to highlight how President Biden's open-border policies and Senator Schumer's inaction and refusal to pass our Border Security Act is resulting in everyday Americans dying.

In 2023, the overdose death rate topped 112,000 individuals, setting a new record.

Fentanyl is still the number one killer of Americans aged 18 to 45. Mr. Speaker, 70 to 80 percent of all fentanyl in the U.S. comes from the southern border. That is not just me saying it, that is what the Drug Enforcement Administration is saying.

Drug cartels are making $32 million a week smuggling individuals into our country. Yes, every asylum seeker, migrant, illegal immigrant, whatever you want to call them, that is coming through our southern border is paying the drug cartels, who, in turn, then use that money to continue to poison our children by selling drugs.

The DEA seized 384 million doses of fentanyl. That is enough to kill every single American. The DEA stated that in December of 2022, most of the fentanyl being trafficked was from two cartels, and it is being mass produced at secret factories in Mexico with chemicals being sourced largely from China.

In May of last year, the DEA conducted an operation that resulted in over 3,000 arrests, the seizure of almost 44 million fentanyl pills, more than 6,500 pounds of fentanyl powder, more than 91,000 pounds of methamphetamine, roughly 8,400 firearms, and more than $100 million.

Yes, the DEA is doing a great job, but look at the pressure we are putting on this agency simply because the President insists on having an open border, and Senator Schumer refuses to do his job.

We passed legislation here to add fentanyl and all its analogues to schedule 1, and he refuses to do it over there. We passed the Border Security Act in May, and he has been sitting on it since then. We took action to halt and put sanctions on Chinese entities that are manufacturing and producing this fentanyl, and, yet again, the Senate refuses to take action.

According to the DEA, Mexican criminal organizations are now the most prominent wholesale-level heroin traffickers in Chicago, Philadelphia, New Jersey, and Washington, and they have a great presence in my city of New York.

Let's talk about New York City. Last year, we saw more than 3,000 people die from drug overdoses in New York City, 80 percent of which were tied to fentanyl. That number has doubled since the New York Democrats and the legislature passed the 2020 bail law allowing traffickers and dealers to be released automatically back onto our streets.

Look at these headlines: ``Suspects accused of running $7M fentanyl ring released without bail''; ``NY's lax bail law lets lethal fentanyl peddlers off scot-free''; ``NY bail laws required most of 30 drug dealers busted on [Long Island] for peddling `tranq,' cocaine and fentanyl to be `automatically released' ''; ``Mexican cartel smugglers nabbed with $1.2M worth of meth in NYC--then released thanks to lax bail laws''; ``New York man busted with 20K fentanyl pills released without bail''; ``Six people busted as part of $7M drug trafficking ring in Bronx released without bail under new State law,'' which Kathy Hochul and the Democrats refuse to fix.

The Federal policies of the Democrats, coupled with the policies of my State government, have been a complete failure and disaster, and Americans are dying as a result.

Once again, I urge my Governor and the State legislature to do their job, and I urge our colleagues on the other side in the Senate to do their job. We took action here in the House. We passed multiple pieces of legislation, most predominantly the Border Security Act. I expect Chuck Schumer to care about what is happening in his own State of New York and do the same.

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