America Faces No Greater Threat Than Joe Biden and the Democrat Party. Their Assault to Our Borders Is As Great As Their Assault to Free Speech and Free Elections
Tuesday, February 14, 2023
SURRENDERING AMERICA TO LA RAZA - Lindsey Graham proposes a ‘DREAM Act’ amnesty for nearly 2 million illegal aliens - When it comes to backstabbing voters, South Carolina's Sen. Lindsey Graham is an expert
Though Biden’s DHS has drastically expanded its Catch and Release network at the border, the agency continues to hide the monthly number of border crossers who are directly released into the U.S. interior.
Lindsey Graham proposes a ‘DREAM Act’ amnesty for nearly 2 million illegal aliens
It's been almost three months since the midterms and campaign promises are fading away from the minds.
It's the perfect time for some GOP members to stab their voters in the back.
When it comes to backstabbing voters, South Carolina's Sen. Lindsey Graham is an expert
Graham probably found some free time after striving for the well-being of his main constituents - President Zelensky, the Ukrainian government, the Ukrainian army, and the mercenaries.
Breitbart reported that Graham had joined Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) to propose their “DREAM Act” amnesty.
Graham and Durbin, who hold powerful positions on the Senate Judiciary Committee, reintroduced the amnesty after repeatedly proposing the plan since 2017.
Estimates suggest that almost two million illegal aliens eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program can become citizens.
Graham said DACA illegal aliens “represent a class of illegal immigrants that have much public support because they were minors brought here by their parents and America has become their home.”
In order to not sound like a complete sell-out, Graham added.
“While I continue to support relief for Dreamers, I hope my Democratic colleagues understand we must repair a broken border and address a tsunami of illegal immigration before that is remotely possible.”
Durban thanked Graham “for his continued partnership in this important bipartisan effort.”
Graham has been attempting this since 2013, when he was part of the notorious ‘Gang of Eight,’ along with GOP Sens. John McCain, Marco Rubio, and Jeff Flake.
The attempt failed.
It led the late great Rush Limbaugh to refer to him as Lindsey Grahamnesty.
So what is DACA about?
DACA is an Obama administration policy implemented on June 15, 2012. DACA prevents the deportation of immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally as minors and offers them work permits.
Those eligible for this program are referred to as Dreamers, a reference to the DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act).
Most of these Dreamers were born in Mexico (80.2%), followed by El Salvador (3.8%), and some were born in Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, and Africa.
So can an argument be made that minors who accompanied adult aliens to trespass the border into the U.S. deserve "fairness," i.e., citizenship, because they were victims of unavoidable circumstances?
Before we answer that, let's look at the bigger picture.
If the Dreamers are guaranteed a pathway to citizenship, it sends an open invitation to aspiring violators across the globe to enter the U.S. illegally, too, because of the implicit promise that someday their offspring will be citizens, and by extension, they will, too, based on chain-migration privileges.
Entering the U.S. illegally is a crime.
It may not seem that obvious since the matter has been spun relentlessly by the Democrats into a matter of empathy.
They claim that the illegal aliens are escaping persecution and poverty and hence deserve compassion.
But similar excuses can be made for other varieties of crimes.
How often have we heard the following when any crime is committed:
“Life has been unfair to them.”
“They were born in poverty.“
“The rich need to pay their fair share or this will keep happening.”
“There is the consequence of income inequality.”
The fact remains that life is never ever fair to anyone. Everyone has a reason and a right to complain. Illegals brought into the U.S. as children by their parents have every right to take the matter up with their parents, instead of demand redress from the government. Unfair circumstances in life aren't an excuse to commit crimes, be it trespassing into a country or pilfering from a supermarket. If it were, there would be a societal breakdown.
Breitbart reported other issues ahead if this iteration of DACA amnesty became a reality.
Newly naturalized citizens will have the facility to bring in an unlimited number of non-citizen relatives to the U.S. including those parents who initially broke the law. Estimates say that number could be from 10 million to 19 million foreign nationals.
A DACA amnesty also could cost American taxpayers some $115 billion because it will lead to new enrollments for Obamacare.
Meanwhile, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has estimated that such an amnesty would cost taxpayers $26 billion. That CBO states that about one in five DACA illegal aliens, after an amnesty, would end up on food stamps, while at least one in seven would go on Medicaid.
Biden's open borders are already a grave problem.
Illegal aliens are already a burden on the taxpayers, and the facilities and infrastructure meant for citizens.
Illegal aliens agreeing to work for less than minimum wage will result in the citizen seeing a depression in wages, if not being rendered unemployed.
If the illegal aliens are of the criminal variety, the victims will be citizens.
In the end, every country has laws that have to be followed.
The only way to enter or temporarily work in the U.S. is to apply for a visa, undergo a background check, and sit for a consular interview. The duration of stay and work depends on the visa.
The only path to citizenship is by naturalization, through marriage, through one's parents, and through military service. Each route has its own set of mandatory requirements.
In a civilized society, lawbreakers must be punished, not incentivized.
This should not be a debate between right and left.
Yet somehow the left, which has become pro-crime, is advocating and incentivizing violations.
It is noteworthy how the left has changed its position on the matter.
Back in 2015, when socialist Bernie Sanders was running for the presidential nomination of the Democrat party, he was asked about open borders.
Sanders further added: “The idea is a right-wing scheme meant to flood the U.S. with cheap labor and depress wages for native-born workers. I think from a moral responsibility, we've got to work with the rest of the industrialized world to address the problems of international poverty," he conceded, "but you don't do that by making people in this country even poorer."
Sanders and the Democrats are singing a drastically different tune now.
They no longer care for the working class who will suffer due to the influx. Their long-term goal is to seal their permanence in power by giving voting rights to illegal aliens, who drown the impact of legacy GOP voters, and who will be a permanent underclass voter base for the Democrats.
The Democrats' plan has successfully been implemented in states such as New York and California, so all they need now is to capture a few more states in order to have total control.
This insanity must to stop.
Lindsey Graham needs to be primaried in 2027 and dumped by President Trump immediately.
Sen. Kamala Harris promised Sunday to reduce detention space for migrants as she asked an illegal immigrant activist to help Joe Biden win the election.
BLOG EDITOR: WHY DIDN’T LAWYER KAMALA HARRIS TELL THE ILLEGAL TO GO HOME??? SHE’S THE ONE WHO AS ATTORNEY GENERAL OF CA DECLARED THAT NEARLY HALF THE MURDERS IN MEXIFORNIA ARE BY MEX GANGS!
“I’m undocumented … I can’t vote …What can we do during this election to help make sure that we get you elected?” asked Astrid Silva, who was brought into the United States as a child by her illegal migrant parents.
“You can tell people who can vote what life is like for you now, and what life can be like,” Vice President nominee Harris told the Nevada-based political organizer who runs the pro-amnesty Dream Big Nevada group, adding that:
We are committed to shutting down private detention centers and ending policies that have been about separating children from their parents at the border.
Harris’s comments may be a coded message to would-be illegal migrants and their supportive legal-immigrant relatives.
For example, if implemented, Harris’s promise to start “shutting down private detention centers” could cripple border enforcement. If the enforcement agency does not have commercial prisons to hold detainees prior to their asylum hearings, the agency would be forced to release waves of job-seeking migrants into the U.S. labor market.
Similarly, Harris’s promise to end “policies … about separating children” echoes the media-magnified demand by pro-migration activists that officials release migrant mothers and children when they cross the border. That demand would let migrant families freely travel to relatives — including their illegal migrant husbands and fathers — who are working illegally in the United States.
Last week in Nevada, I caught up with my friend @Astrid_NV, to discuss the Biden-Harris plan for immigration reform and how Dreamers can make a difference in this election.
Like Biden, Harris pushed the Cold War “Nation of Immigrants” claim, even though only about 10 percent of people in the United States are legal immigrants:
We want to have a president who understands we are a nation of immigrants. This is a country that was built and that has derived its strength from immigrants coming here over the generations.
Harris also tried to blur the legal and civic differences between illegal migrants, legal immigrants, and American citizens. For example, she told Silva:
Define who you are, and you tell the world who you are. Don’t let anybody ever put you in a box because they have a limited perspective on who can do what and who can be one.
[…]
We are all in this together. And so, chin up, shoulders back, right? We speak our truth and know that there will always be people applauding and supporting that even if you can’t see them at that one moment, know that there are so many of us who are supporting your leadership and the power of your voice. It’s really important.
Harris also claimed President Donald Trump vilified immigrants: “We’ve seen under the current president the kind of vitriol, the kind of hate, the vilification of immigrants in such a horrible way.”
But a Washington Post poll showed in April that Latinos are the strongest advocates for a near-total halt to legal immigration during the coronavirus epidemic and economic crash.
Biden’s 2020 plan promises to “reassert America’s commitment to asylum-seekers and refugees,” wipe out Trump’s asylum reforms, bar any deportations for 100 days, and end migration enforcement against illegal aliens unless they commit a felony.
Joe Biden’s asylum and open-border policies will destroy the American middle class by releasing millions of foreign migrants into the United States, Stephen Miller told reporters October 28. https://t.co/BaeLSIud7y
Biden also wants to let companies import more visa workers, let mayors import temporary workers, and allow an unlimited flow of foreign graduates through U.S. universities into white-collar jobs. Biden would “exempt from any cap [the] recent graduates of Ph.D. programs in STEM fields.”
Biden also wants to accelerate the inflow of chain migration migrants and dramatically accelerate the inflow of poor refugees to at least 125,000 per year.
“The influx of low wage workers from all across the world will drive down incomes, drive down wages, deplete the middle class, bankrupt Social Security, bankrupt Medicare, bankrupt Medicaid, bankrupt federal entitlements, overcrowd schools, and overcrowd every hospital in the middle of a pandemic,” White House aide Stephen Miller told reporters on October 28.
“It is an assault on reason, it is an assault on law enforcement, and it’s an assault on the very idea of having a country, having a Republic,” Miller added. “This is not about left or right or Center. This is about between having a country, or not even having a country.”
House Republicans move to forbid illegal aliens voting in DC
The House of Representatives voted to overturn a D.C. law that would allow illegal aliens to vote in local elections.
In October 2022, the D.C. Council passed the "Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act," which gave legal non-citizens and illegal aliens the right to vote in the nation's capital.
The GOP-led House voted 260-173 to overturn the new law. Forty-two Democrats joined the Republicans in opposing it.
For the law to be struck down, the Democrat-led Senate must vote against it, and the president must sign it.
According to NBC News, approximately 50,000 residents in D.C. are non-citizens.
In January 2023, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) introduced legislation that would prevent illegal aliens from voting in D.C.
According to the Daily Caller, the legislation would prohibit any federal funds from being used by the district to allow non-citizens to vote in any election.
Prior to introducing the legislation, Cruz said:
Allowing non-citizens, including aliens occupying our nation illegally, to exercise a right reserved for American citizens not only violates the constitutional principles our nation was founded upon, but also naively invites foreign meddling in our elections.
Voting is a privilege and the tool by which American citizens exercise their say in who leads our country, how we spend our tax dollars, and what policies should be instituted. I am vehemently against unconstitutionally cheapening the votes of American citizens and ignoring the rule of law in this nation.
If the law were to pass, it would allow foreign nationals who pledged allegiance to other countries, such as Russia and China, to vote in D.C. elections.
Jason Snead, executive director of Honest Elections Project Action, stated that "eighty-four percent of Americans agree that only citizens should have the right to vote." A poll cited by The Hill bears this out.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said the GOP is reviving the "legacy of slavery" by prohibiting non-citizens from voting in D.C.
Ocasio-Cortez said that the GOP's opposition to the law is "singling out the residents of the District of Columbia and expanding in the history of disenfranchisement that goes all the way back to the legacy of slavery."
She falsely accused Republicans of denying Black Americans the right to vote. Republicans "claim they believe in the sacred right to vote while denying that right to vote to an overwhelmingly Black city."
House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) gave a speech on the House floor condemning the non-citizens voting rights law. "A healthy republic has two basic duties: guarantee free and fair elections; and protect life, liberty, and property from violence," he said.
After refusing for days last week to shoot down China's spy balloon, the Biden administration finally found airships they are happy to take down: surveillance blimps that monitor the southern border.
The Biden administration is taking the blimps, which allow agents to detect illegal migrant activity over long periods of time, out of commission due to funding cuts, Fox News reported. While there were 12 surveillance balloons in operation last year, only four remain.
Customs and Border Protection agents told Fox that the removal of the blimps, known in the agency as their "Eyes in the Sky," will drastically hinder their ability to track illegal immigrants who evade detention at the border. As of January, there were 1.2 million "gotaways" since Biden took office.
The news of Biden's groundings comes a week after the president waited days to shoot down a Chinese spy balloon traversing the continental United States. The aircraft was first reported on Jan. 31, floating over military and nuclear bases in Montana. The military finally shot down the vessel over the Atlantic Ocean on Feb. 4.
Biden didn't show the same indecision with the balloons guarding the border: The security devices were taken down across the border on Jan. 1 after funding dried up.
"Although the Border Patrol’s number of aerostats will be reduced, the Border Patrol will continue to use aerostats throughout FY 2023," a Border Patrol official told Fox.
The decision to ground the surveillance balloons comes amid a worsening migrant crisis on both borders. More migrants were processed in December than ever before—251,487 in total.
Border agents in New York, New Hampshire, and Vermont reported a 743 percent increase in migrant encounters between October and December compared with the same months in 2021.
Customs and Border Protection, meanwhile, this month distributed a poster to its officers celebrating "black resistance," featuring anti-police advocates like Colin Kaepernick and Black Lives Matter.
Though Biden’s DHS has drastically expanded its Catch and Release network at the border, the agency continues to hide the monthly number of border crossers who are directly released into the U.S. interior.
Sen. Hawley Says Border Patrol Has Encountered Increased Number on Terrorist Watchlist 'Because of Joe Biden's Open Border Policy'
(CNSNews.com) -- When asked about the increased amount of individuals encountered on the terrorist watch list by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at the U.S.-Mexico border, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said, “frankly, what Joe Biden has done here is inexcusable.”
At the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 9, CNS News asked Sen. Hawley, “(In fiscal 2019), Customs and Border Protection encountered no individuals on the terrorist watch list, trying to sneak across the United States-Mexico border between the ports of entry. In fiscal 2022, it encountered 98. Why do you think there has been this increase?”
Hawley responded, “Because of Joe Biden’s open border policies, clearly. I mean, he’s not even attempting to enforce the law. Just ask the Border Patrol. Border Patrol will tell you they’ve had their legal authorities taken away from them. ICE will say the same. They've had their manpower reduced. They have been completely hamstrung.”
“The border is just wide open,” said Hawley. “Who knows, by the way, these are just the folks on the watch list that we’ve heard about. Who knows who else has actually come in cause we’re not even able to keep track any longer.”
“We are not even attempting--I say 'we,' the administration is not even attempting to keep track,” added Hawley. “It is a completely open border. It is a huge national security threat. And also, from my perspective, fentanyl being the number one cause of death for Missourians between 18-44, fentanyl is just pouring across the border, and it's pouring into every school and community in my state. And, frankly, what Joe Biden has done here is inexcusable.”
President Joe Biden. (Getty Images)
Hawley’s statement is supported by the Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services as the most recent data involving fentanyl overdoses shows: “The 2020 figure is nearly seven times higher than the 2015 count of 179 synthetic opioid-involved deaths.”
The Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services also reports, “Among adults aged 18-44 in Missouri, drug overdose is the leading cause of death, and more than 70% of all drug overdose deaths in the state involve opioids.”
The question comes amid a report released by the CBP showing that in 2019 it encountered no individuals on the terrorist watch list trying to cross the Southwest Border of the United States. Since 2020, the number of individuals has increased each year, with a rise in 2021 and a significant jump in 2022.
The data show that during the Trump administration the CBP encountered 11 individuals on the terrorist watch list between 2017-2020. The significant rise has occurred since the Biden administration took over in January 2021. The combined number of encounters between 2021 and 2022 is 113, with 38 already being reported in fiscal 2023.
NO ONE SHOULD UNDER ESTIMATE THE DAMAGE JOE BIDEN HAS PERPETRATED ON AMERCA!
“Joe Biden is great on immigration. I guess depends on your perspective. If you’re a human trafficker, or drug dealer, you’d give him an A-plus, but theAmerican people would give him an F. The crisis at our border was not only entirely predictable, it was predicted. I predicted that if you campaign all year long on open borders, amnesty, and health care for illegals, you’re going to get more migrants at the border. That’s what’s happened since the election.” SEN. TOM COTTON
Biden Heckled Over Fentanyl Epidemic: ‘It’s Your Fault!’
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, heckles President Biden during Tuesday night’s State of the Union address. (Photo by Jim Watson / AFP via Getty Images)
(CNSNews.com) – Republicans heckled President Biden when he raised the fentanyl crisis during his State of the Union on Tuesday night, drawing attention to the flow of the deadly synthetic opioid over the insecure southwest border and to China’s role in its production.
After introducing and paying tribute to a guest whose daughter died of a fentanyl overdose aged 20, Biden said, “Fentanyl is killing more than 70,000 Americans a year.”
Heckling erupted, with lawmakers shouting “close the border” and what sounded like “it’s coming from China,” before a male voice was heard yelling at the president, “it’s your fault!”
Biden grinned, and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, seated behind him, pursed his lips in a bid to shush the hecklers in his party – not for the first time during the speech. Vice President Kamala Harris appeared bemused.
The president then went on, “Let’s launch a major surge to stop fentanyl production and the sale and trafficking, with more drug detection machines to inspect cargo and stop pills and powder at the border.”
“Working with couriers like Fed Ex to inspect more packages for drugs,” he added. “Strong penalties to crack down on fentanyl trafficking.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), identified in some reports as one of the hecklers, tweeted afterwards, “Biden is the Mexican cartel’s best business partner. And their business is murdering Americans with Chinese-made fentanyl.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 71,238 Americans died in fentanyl overdoses in 2021, up from 57,834 in 2020 and from 28,466 in 2017.
The quantity of fentanyl seized by Customs and Border Protection agents at the southwest border has been climbing steadily in recent years, from 2,633 pounds in fiscal year 2019 to 10,586 pounds two years later, and to 14,104 pounds in FY 2022.
(Table: CNSNews.com / Data: U.S. Customs and Border Protection)
Just three months into FY 2023, fentanyl seizures along the U.S.-Mexico border reported by CBP have already reached 7,226 pounds – more than the entire hauls reported in FY 2019 and FY 2020 put together.
How much fentanyl is smuggled across the border and not detected and seized is not known.
“There are no comprehensive data on the total quantity of foreign-produced illicit drugs smuggled into the United States at or between official ports of entry (POEs) because these are drugs that have generally evaded seizure by border officials,” according to a 2020 Congressional Research Service report.
Rep. Fallon: Drug Cartels Waging ‘Asymmetrical Warfare’ on the U.S.
(CNSNews.com) – During a House Oversight Committee hearing on border security, Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Tex.) explained how Mexican drug cartels are waging what he describes as “asymmetrical warfare” on the United States.
On Feb. 7 at the Capitol, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability held a hearing entitled “On the Front Lines of the Border Crisis: A Hearing with Chief Patrol Agents.”
The two expert witnesses invited to testify at the hearing were Gloria Chavez, Chief Patrol Agent of the Rio Grande Valley Sector, and John Modlin, Chief Patrol Agent of the Tucson Sector.
During his remarks, Rep. Fallon used his time to shine a light on the size and nature of the cartels.
“Chief Modlin, do you believe the Mexican drug cartels present a clear and present danger to the safety and security of the United States?” asked Fallon.
“I would say that the drug cartels and their control of the border […] is a very significant problem,” replied Chief Modlin.
Fallon went on to reveal that the estimated total revenue for the cartels is $38 billion a year, made from illegal narcotics and human trafficking.
(Getty Images)
“That’s the size of some nation states’ entire GDP in a given year,” explained Fallon.
In his response, Modlin said, “I think it’s very important that you’ve brought up the amount of money the cartels have.”
“So these organizations,” Modlin continued, “the funds they have, it’s almost limitless. They don’t have to follow policy, they don’t have to follow law, they don’t recognize the international border, they don’t recognize state borders. So, where we are, of course, confined by all those things, or restricted by those things, they have absolute freedom.”
“Absolute freedom to smuggle in fentanyl,” Fallon interrupted, “which I think we’d all agree is the most dangerous drug they’re currently trafficking in. Where something smaller than a tip of a pencil, two milligrams, can kill a human being. They’ve smuggled in 24,000 pounds in the last two fiscal years, and they have killed 80,000 Americans in just one year.”
(Getty Images)
“That is asymmetrical warfare being waged on the United States, and what we don’t lack is your will to secure the border, the border patrol agents’ will,” said Fallon. “We have the resources, we have the manpower, we have the technology. What we lack, Mr. Chairman, is Alejandro Mayorkas’ will, and Joe Biden’s will to do so.”
“Good morning and good luck to everyone except @GOPoversight members who are using today’s hearing to amplify white nationalist conspiracy theories instead of a comprehensive solution to protect our borders and strengthen our immigration system.”
This tweet prompted a response from Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) who said the following at the start of the hearing:
“I’m just going to cut to the chase for my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who want to state that we’re using this hearing for white nationalism. I’m not doing that, so if you feel that strongly come walk to this side of the room and let’s talk about it face to face. But leave that kind of silly stuff for somebody else. Don’t bring that here today, this stuff is serious.”
From April 2020 to April 2021, more than 100,000 Americans died from drug overdoses, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics. An overwhelming majority of those deaths came from opioids, and fentanyl smuggling has surged at the southern border since the start of Joe Biden's presidency.
“Joe Biden is great on immigration. I guess depends on your perspective. If you’re a human trafficker, or drug dealer, you’d give him an A-plus, but theAmerican people would give him an F. The crisis at our border was not only entirely predictable, it was predicted. I predicted that if you campaign all year long on open borders, amnesty, and health care for illegals, you’re going to get more migrants at the border. That’s what’s happened since the election.” SEN. TOM COTTON
Is it all that different from his open borders policies, where millions of unvetted foreign migrants are flooding into this country without authorization, bringing crime, drugs, and costs, yet there too nothing is done about it? Joe offers an absurd excuse for that decision, as well claiming that all migrants who can utter the magic word 'asylum' are entitled to a free ride inside the U.S. for years or more, amounting to an all-expenses paid trip for thousands. MONICA SHOWALTER
Biden Heckled Over Fentanyl Epidemic: ‘It’s Your Fault!’
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, heckles President Biden during Tuesday night’s State of the Union address. (Photo by Jim Watson / AFP via Getty Images)
(CNSNews.com) – Republicans heckled President Biden when he raised the fentanyl crisis during his State of the Union on Tuesday night, drawing attention to the flow of the deadly synthetic opioid over the insecure southwest border and to China’s role in its production.
After introducing and paying tribute to a guest whose daughter died of a fentanyl overdose aged 20, Biden said, “Fentanyl is killing more than 70,000 Americans a year.”
Heckling erupted, with lawmakers shouting “close the border” and what sounded like “it’s coming from China,” before a male voice was heard yelling at the president, “it’s your fault!”
Biden grinned, and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, seated behind him, pursed his lips in a bid to shush the hecklers in his party – not for the first time during the speech. Vice President Kamala Harris appeared bemused.
The president then went on, “Let’s launch a major surge to stop fentanyl production and the sale and trafficking, with more drug detection machines to inspect cargo and stop pills and powder at the border.”
“Working with couriers like Fed Ex to inspect more packages for drugs,” he added. “Strong penalties to crack down on fentanyl trafficking.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), identified in some reports as one of the hecklers, tweeted afterwards, “Biden is the Mexican cartel’s best business partner. And their business is murdering Americans with Chinese-made fentanyl.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 71,238 Americans died in fentanyl overdoses in 2021, up from 57,834 in 2020 and from 28,466 in 2017.
The quantity of fentanyl seized by Customs and Border Protection agents at the southwest border has been climbing steadily in recent years, from 2,633 pounds in fiscal year 2019 to 10,586 pounds two years later, and to 14,104 pounds in FY 2022.
(Table: CNSNews.com / Data: U.S. Customs and Border Protection)
Just three months into FY 2023, fentanyl seizures along the U.S.-Mexico border reported by CBP have already reached 7,226 pounds – more than the entire hauls reported in FY 2019 and FY 2020 put together.
How much fentanyl is smuggled across the border and not detected and seized is not known.
“There are no comprehensive data on the total quantity of foreign-produced illicit drugs smuggled into the United States at or between official ports of entry (POEs) because these are drugs that have generally evaded seizure by border officials,” according to a 2020 Congressional Research Service report.
Admiral: ‘We Should Never Give China a Pass’ Over Its Responsibility for the Fentanyl Crisis
Suspected fentanyl tablets are measured and assessed at a Drug Enforcement Administration laboratory in New York. (Photo by Don Emmert / AFP via Getty Images)
(CNSNews.com) – Ahead of a State of the Union address in which President Biden called for a “major surge” to tackle the deadly opioid epidemic, a U.S. Navy admiral and former U.S. Pacific Command commander said Tuesday the U.S. “should never give China a pass” over its responsibility for the fentanyl crisis.
When Biden addressed the fentanyl issue during his speech, he was heckled by some House Republicans, with one of them yelling what sounded like “it’s coming from China.”
Fentanyl has been identified as the leading killer of Americans between the ages of 18 and 49. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than 100,000 Americans died of a drug overdose in 2021, with synthetic opioids like fentanyl accounting for two-thirds of the deaths.
The majority of the precursor chemicals for producing the deadly drug are reported to come from China.
Hours before Biden’s speech, retired Adm. Harry Harris Jr. told the House Armed Services Committee that the U.S. needs to “pressurize China more, and ensure that the world understands that China is behind the fentanyl crisis – not only in America, but elsewhere.”
Another part of addressing the crisis, he said, was “the enforcement piece, at the point of entry into the United States, which is Mexico and the cartels.”
“But we should never give China a pass on the fact that they’re behind the manufacture of this scourge across America,” said Harris, who served as U.S. Pacific Command commander until retiring from naval service in 2018, when he became ambassador to South Korea until 2021.
In response to a question, Harris said he did not hold the view that the situation was the result of a concerted Chinese Communist Party strategy to kill Americans.
“It doesn’t strike you though as curious that our biggest adversary is responsible for almost all the fentanyl that comes in, flows into this country – ?” asked Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.).
“I think it’s concerning,” said Harris. He agreed with Banks that “it is a national security issue.”
Photographs of some of the tens of thousands of Americans who have died from fentanyl overdoses are displayed at Drug Enforcement Administration headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, last July. (Photo by Agnes Bun / AFP via Getty Images)
‘Diplomatic push’
A White House State of the Union fact sheet listed “key actions” the administration plans to take to tackle the issue, including leading “a sustained diplomatic push that will address fentanyl and its supply chain abroad.”
“The administration will work with international partners to disrupt the global fentanyl production and supply chain, and call on others to join our efforts. We will focus on seizing chemical ingredients and fentanyl before it can reach our communities, and hold accountable the producers, traffickers, and facilitators of these deadly drugs,” it said.
“Many of these ingredients and materials originate outside our borders, and we will call on global partners to work with us and do more to disrupt the criminal elements within their countries who sell chemicals and tools for the production of counterfeit pills around the world.”
At a White House briefing ahead of Biden’s speech, Office of National Drug Control Policy Director Dr. Rahul Gupta was asked about this planned “diplomatic push.”
“One of the things that we know is important is to make sure that we’re addressing the entire global supply chain of fentanyl and precursor compounds,” he said. “This is why the President has been so forward leaning when it’s talking with President López Obrador in Mexico or President Xi in China.”
Gupta said the administration has “specific asks” of China, to take steps that would “significantly reduce, if not eliminate, that shipping of precursor chemicals – but also at the same time to ensure that where the production happens of fentanyl, which is mostly in Mexico, that we’re working with the Mexican authorities and the leadership there.”
He said Biden’s diplomatic push would aim to “ensure that we’re working with these countries to hold illicit actors accountable in their countries. And we want to work with the leaders of these countries to make sure that they do just that.”
State Department spokesman Ned Price said last month that China-origin precursor chemicals “still make their way to third countries and ultimately form the basis of so much of the fentanyl that arrives in the United States and kills our citizens.”
Border Advocates Blast Biden’s Call for Amnesty in State of the Union
President Biden ignored his border crisis while also calling for amnesty in his State of the Union address, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) charged.
FAIR, which advocates for border security and the reduction of legal immigration, responded to President Biden’s statements about the border in a press release.
“President Biden, who came to office two years ago with some of the lowest levels of illegal immigration in modern history, largely ignored the historic border crisis he created by devoting only a few lines to it in his State of the Union address,” the press release begins.
FAIR noted that “Other than a call for additional manpower (to process migrants) and equipment to ‘secure’ our borders, Biden said nothing about his failed policies that have resulted in more than a quarter of a million illegal aliens breaching our borders in a single month.”
But even more concerning, Biden “reiterated his call for a mass amnesty that will serve as yet another magnet for even greater illegal immigration in the future,” FAIR points out.
During his speech, Biden said,“If you won’t pass my comprehensive immigration reform, at least pass … a pathway to citizenship for DREAMers, those on temporary status, farm workers, and essential workers.”
The organization also explained the scope of the crisis, charging that only two years into the Biden presidency, “We are approaching 6 million illegal entrants, the vast majority of whom have been released under the pretense that they will be removed sometime in the future. We all know they won’t.”
Should the number of illegal entrants reach six million, it would be roughly numerically equivalent to the state of Maryland.
The organization alleges that
President Biden sought to portray his flagrantly illegal abuse of parole as an effective border enforcement strategy. With no statutory authority, he has created a parallel immigration system that allows 360,000 otherwise inadmissible aliens from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to enter each year, all while boasting that he has cut illegal entry by citizens of those countries by 97 percent.
FAIR also went on to compare the approach to “raising the speed limit to 150 mph and bragging that you have dramatically reduced the number of drivers cited with speeding tickets.”
The organization went on to condemn the administration’s approach to the border, claiming that Biden isn’t even trying to enforce the law. “Subtly, but unmistakably, President Biden’s agenda has effectively abolished statutorily mandated border and immigration enforcement and replaced it with border and immigration management,” the release read.
FAIR also stated that “The goal of U.S. immigration policymaking under the Biden Administration is clear: Open borders for all who want to settle here, and amnesty for everyone who is already here illegally.”
“All manner of enforcement is out and endless accommodation is in,” FAIR concluded.
Spencer Lindquist is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerLndqst and reach out at slindquist@breitbart.com.
THE HISPANDERING DEMOCRAT PARTY = OPEN BORDERS!
Mexican Cartel-Style Violence Spreading in California over Marijuana Grow Fields
Contrary to political rhetoric, Mexican cartel-style killings and gun battles appear to have already reached the U.S. and are spreading — particularly in California. The region experienced an explosive growth of cartel marijuana grow operations that are taking advantage of legalization and lax laws.
This week, federal authorities clashed with one of two gunmen who are accused of killing a family of six — including a 16-year-old female and her baby. The murders took place last month in Tulare County, California, in what some authorities have dubbed a cartel killing.
On early Friday morning, federal agents arrested Noah David Beard, 25, and Angel “Nanu” Uriarte, 35, the Los Angeles Timesreported. The article identified both men as Sureno Gang members. Uriarte clashed with federal agents in a gun battle. He sustained multipole injuries and had to undergo surgery. He is expected to survive. Authorities arrested Beard without a shootout.
The two men are facing six murder charges and several enhancements filed by the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office over the January 16 mass killing. Authorities also carried out several raids at homes and prison cells targeting the Nuestra Familia gang. Both the Nuestra Familia and the Surenos have a history of working with Mexican drug cartels.
According to the Los Angeles Times, authorities found the 16-year-old mother in a ditch cradling her baby in her arms. Both victims were shot in the head. Initially, Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux called the murder the work of a cartel, however, he later tried to walk back the claim, the Timesreported.
Tulare County and other counties in Northern California have seen a dramatic rise in cartel presence due to the legal marijuana trade and lax laws around it. Additionally, various cartel figures who have become famous in Mexico are actually U.S. citizens. Among these is Jose Maria “Z-43” Guizar Valencia a top leader with the Los Zetas cartel who was born in Tulare California and is currently awaiting sentencing on various federal drug trafficking charges in Texas.
According to a report from USA Today, since California legalized marijuana for recreational use, Mexican cartels have moved their grow operations to the U.S. where they can hide among legal farms. The publication reported that in 2021, there were 10,000 illegal grow operations in Mendocino County alone. The issue has already led to various high-profile cases similar to the one in Tulare County last month.
One of the main draws for cartels is that operating an illegal grow is only a misdemeanor offense in California and that business is cash only. Additionally, the region does not have enough law enforcement officers to patrol those grow sites and enforce laws against illegal growing operations, USA Todayreported.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
“C.P. Mireles” from Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project contributed to this report.