From Oct 28, 2022 post
Political outsider, successful business leader, and Republican nominee for U.S. Senate Joe O'Dea visited the southern border this week with State Senator John Cooke and and John Fabbricatore, Former ICE Agent.
"Our border is not secure, I came down to shine a light on it. Within an hour of patrolling Brooks County, TX, Captain Danny Davila apprehended two individuals — dehydrated, hungry, tired — she from El Salvador, he from Mexico. This is a humanitarian crisis at its core," said Joe O'Dea. "I am grateful to Captain Danny Davila, and the entire Brooks County Sheriff's Department, for giving me a front row seat to the hard realities of not securing our border — the free rein the cartel has been granted to demoralize immigrants and the unfathomable amount of drugs that are coming across unchecked. They have incredibly difficult jobs and too many politicians in D.C. just look the other way. I won’t."
"The border is less secure under President Biden. That was made very clear during my visit to the Rio Grande Valley Sector. I wasn't surprised, but there's a lot of support for a border wall — it's seen as common sense. Physical barriers are a strategic asset to assist Border Patrol by condensing entry points. The border is in crisis. Our current approach isn't working. Our open border is a humanitarian crisis, it's a national security crisis, it's a crisis for our communities. We must secure our border," added O'Dea.
See a recap of the trip below:
A Humanitarian Crisis
In Brooks County alone, the Sheriff's Department finds an average of 100 deceased migrants every year. Migrants are left for dead by smugglers.
According to Captain Davila at the Brooks County Sheriff's Department, families that used to live on ranches in the area have moved off their land because of safety concerns.
Earlier this summer it was reported that 46 migrants died in the back of a tractor trailer.
Every State is a Border State
In September alone, at least 20 known or suspected terrorists were apprehended at the border.
Colorado experienced an almost 70% increase in fatal fentanyl overdoses from 2020 to 2021.
At least 1,881 Coloradans died of drugs in 2021 as fentanyl and methamphetamine continue to push the state’s per-capita overdose rate to the highest level ever recorded.
O'Dea looks toward Mexican side of U.S.-Mexico border while on boat tour of Rio Grande.
Securing the Borde
Across the board, the border situation has worsened under President Biden.
There is a massive influx at the border and less resources available for law enforcement.
Support for physical barriers is strong; it's strategic. Border Patrol can focus on where a wall isn't and divert people away from population centers.
O'Dea supports finishing the wall, and supports investing more resources into border security.
O'Dea and State Senator Cooke speak with former ICE Regional Director John Fabbriacatore in front of section of border wall near McAllen, TX.
In the News
The Denver Post:
“I’m headed to the border because Michael Bennet won’t,” O’Dea said at a campaign event Sunday, citing record overdose deaths in 2021. “I’m going down there to find out what is it we can do to help get this border secured so we can quit killing our kids. Fentanyl deaths are over the top right now. We lost 1,900 kids last year to drug overdose here in Colorado. Every state is a border state. It’s coming straight up I-25.”
Colorado Public Radio:
O’Dea said his trip to the border in the Rio Grande Valley is an attempt “to shine a light on what’s going on down at this border.” He said fentanyl is coming up through Mexico, which is killing Coloradans.
“We got to do more to secure this border, that’s why I’m headed down there,” he said.
O’Dea added he was told in his discussions with now-retired Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen and Jefferson County Sheriff Jeff Shrader that the key to getting fentanyl under control is to secure the border.
Original source can be found here
