February’s border numbers are in: 164,973 illegal migrants were apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border last month. That’s the highest February total in 22 years. What these statistics don’t show are the communities being overwhelmed and the families being destroyed as a result of this administration’s failures. As a Texas congressman for a border district that stretches more than 800 miles, this is especially disturbing to me. President Joe Biden’s open-border policies have created a humanitarian and national security crisis on our doorstep.
Tragically, the victims of Biden’s border crisis are often the most vulnerable. In the last month alone, the Border Patrol apprehended an astounding 12,011 unaccompanied children. Recently, a 4-year-old child drowned in the Rio Grande as he and his mother attempted to cross into the United States. In Arizona, agents found a 5-week-old baby abandoned by his mother. In fact, Arizona Border Patrol agents have found more than 100 children by themselves in recent days. And in California, an illegal immigrant killed his three daughters and their chaperone in a church just five days after being released from jail. The tragedy might have been prevented, but California’s “sanctuary state” law barred ICE from deporting the man after his arrest.
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Biden’s border crisis also jeopardizes the safety of our own citizens. In Northern California, people are being shot at and threatened by cartels, which have broadened their activity beyond Mexico since Biden took office. In Texas, three sex offenders and three gang members were arrested after entering the U.S. illegally. Similarly, a known human smuggler who was arrested and promptly released by the Border Patrol was rearrested for human smuggling less than a week later. Border agents have even encountered people on the FBI terrorism watch list. These examples highlight a fact that should be obvious: An open border puts the public at risk.
Although the problem starts at our border, it’s not staying there. Illicit drugs are pouring into the country, with 634 pounds of deadly fentanyl and 12,500 pounds of methamphetamine seized at the southern border in February alone. Much more is slipping through the cracks and making its way into the heartland. Cartels have even started using small drones to fly fentanyl over the border, landing on local football fields to be picked up by drug mules and dispersed throughout the country. These advancements make every town a border town. Fentanyl is becoming much more prevalent in Missouri and Kansas. Last year, fentanyl overdose deaths doubled in Idaho. And in Ohio, agents reportedly seized enough fentanyl to kill the entire populations of Ohio and Kentucky. It’s not just drug addicts and gangs being affected. Just three weeks ago, five U.S. Military Academy cadets overdosed on fentanyl.
On Day One, Biden signaled to the world that our borders were open. Within his first 100 days in office, he took more than 94 executive actions on immigration, including halting the construction of the border wall and ending the Trump administration’s successful “Remain in Mexico” policy. In fact, illegal immigrants are thanking Biden for his weak immigration policies, admitting that they “didn’t even want to try” crossing the border when Donald Trump was president. Biden’s weakness is evident to everyone, and the people are paying the price.
Biden claims to support a “fair and humane immigration system,” but his open-border policies are anything but compassionate. They encourage migrants to make a dangerous, deadly journey. They create a thriving business environment for drug runners and human traffickers. They are also threatening our citizens and national security. That’s why the Republican Party is fighting to secure our border, both at the state and federal levels.
As president, Biden’s most basic responsibility is to protect and defend our country. Until he does, Republicans will hold him accountable.
Tony Gonzales represents Texas’s 23rd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
