EL PASO, TEXAS – Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02) traveled to the Southern Border January 3-4, 2022 with Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (TX-26) to see the border crisis firsthand and speak to law enforcement personnel on the ground about border security and drug smuggling across the border.

Guthrie is the top Republican of the Energy and Commerce Committee’s Health Subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over certain federal efforts to combat illicit drugs as well as the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement.

“We are losing our friends, neighbors, and loved ones too soon to drug overdoses. I went to the Southern Border to see how the Biden Administration’s policies are leading to an unsecure border and alarming amounts of deadly fentanyl and other drugs flooding our communities. I learned how drug cartels are trying to take advantage of our unsecure border to smuggle this deadly poison into the United States,” said Guthrie.

From April 2020 to April 2021, drug overdose deaths in Kentucky increased by more than 50%, with fentanyl being involved in 2020 with over 70% of overdose deaths. In September 2021, the Drug Enforcement Administration sent a public safety alert on the drastic increase of lethal counterfeit pills with fentanyl and methamphetamine and reported the majority of the counterfeit pills found in the U.S. are manufactured in Mexico using chemicals to create fentanyl from China. U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized 10,586 pounds of fentanyl during fiscal year 2021 at the Southwest Border, which is up from 4,558 in fiscal year 2020 and 2,633 in fiscal year 2019. Two milligrams can be a lethal dose of fentanyl.

Guthrie received an overview of current operations and efforts to combat drug trafficking of Homeland Security Investigations division of ICE in El Paso, Texas. Additionally, Guthrie traveled with CBP agents to learn about CBP operations in the El Paso sector and see drug interdiction protocols for individual and commercial traffic coming across the border.

“While CPB seized record amounts of fentanyl last year, I am concerned about how much fentanyl was still smuggled into our country with the ongoing chaos at the border caused by President Biden’s ineffective border security policies. I saw how the current Administration’s efforts to stop President Trump’s border wall could lead to drugs more easily coming across the border,” continued Guthrie.

“In Kentucky I have been working with community leaders, educators, law enforcement, and representatives of recovery centers to curb the drug crisis in our communities, and in Congress I have voted for legislation to give law enforcement additional tools to combat drugs and fought for the availability of more resources for people in recovery. We must secure our border, build the wall, and enforce better border policies to help stop drugs from harming more Americans and protect migrants from being taking advantage of by cartels,” said Guthrie.

Guthrie also visited an Office of Refugee Resettlement Emergency Intake Site (EIS) to conduct oversight of the care for unaccompanied migrant children and learn about COVID-19 screening protocols.

Original source can be found here.