By the Republican National Committee
THE WORST MONTH AT THE BORDER ON RECORD
- Trying to hide just how bad the crisis at the border has become, the Biden administration released December border numbers in a late Friday night news dump.
- Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data shows 251,487 illegal immigrants were apprehended attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border in December, making this the highest total for December in DHS history.
- That is a 366 percent increase from the average number of November apprehensions during the Trump administration.
- 12,298 unaccompanied childrenwere apprehended.
- At least 38 people on the terror watchlist have been apprehended trying to enter the U.S. between ports of entry so far this fiscal year, including 17 in December.
- 170,512 illegal immigrantswere apprehended from countries outside the Northern Triangle and Mexico, showing that Biden's crisis is global.
- 5.6 million illegal immigrants have crossed the border since Biden took office.
- This includes the more than 5 million illegal immigrants that Customs and Border Protection has apprehended and the 1.1 million gotaways that have escaped past Border Patrol into the U.S.
- Border officials say that the official number of gotaways vastly undercounts the illegal immigrants who make it into the U.S.
- Despite this ongoing crisis, Kamala Harris still claims "we have a secure border."
- Biden has installed a de facto amnesty program in which nearly 50,000 illegal immigrants have had their cases dismissed in court due to his administration's failure to file the proper paperwork.
- Homeland Security Investigations estimates that Mexican cartels are now making $13 billion a year smuggling illegal immigrants into the U.S, 26 times what they made in 2018.
DRUGS ARE POURING OVER THE BORDER INTO OUR COMMUNITIES
- Illicit drugs are flowing into the country at an alarming rate, with only 5 to 10 percent being intercepted as border officials struggle to contain the smuggling.
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/drug-seizure-statistics">2,414 pounds of deadly fentanyl</a> and <a href="https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/drug-seizure-statistics">10,308 pounds of methamphetamine</a> were seized at the southern border in December alone, with much more getting through.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/record-fentanyl-seizures-at-border-contributed-to-soaring-overdose-deaths-in-us">Joshua Sharfstein</a> of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: "If they're seizing a lot, it's because a lot is coming in."</li>
<li>The amount of fentanyl seized in November is the equivalent of <a href="https://www.dea.gov/resources/facts-about-fentanyl">more than 547 million</a> lethal doses. </li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/young-people-are-targeted-brightly-colored-rainbow-fentanyl-government-rcna49503">Deadly rainbow fentanyl, which is designed by cartels to target children and teens, has been increasingly caught</a> crossing the border and is now in at least <a href="https://www.dea.gov/press-releases/2022/09/01/dea-warns-brightly-colored-fentanyl-used-target-young-americans">26 states</a>.
<ul>
<li>Agents have also recently seen a rise in <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/rainbow-fentanyl/">"speckled" or tie-dye fentanyl</a>.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/rainbow-fentanyl/">Six out of every 10 tablets</a> analyzed by the DEA contains a lethal dose of fentanyl.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fus%2Ffentanyl-overdoses-leading-cause-death-adults&data=05%7C01%7CDGriffin%40gop.com%7Cd567c77759194e10a70e08da9ff8b06c%7C4a082c81950a410d9618462a9c74d6ae%7C1%7C0%7C637998187719718491%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=uNFh0704eJS2tlvaI6jhLIMwGoXdIjJOrIYgNXyzMUU%3D&reserved=0">Fentanyl</a> is now the leading cause of death for Americans age <a href="https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FRNCResearch%2Fstatus%2F1560649392180400135&data=05%7C01%7CDGriffin%40gop.com%7Cd567c77759194e10a70e08da9ff8b06c%7C4a082c81950a410d9618462a9c74d6ae%7C1%7C0%7C637998187719718491%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=5q6pvEEw2iTshQvxDLuzj6RpcvjfvW%2FeKohJx8HSgF8%3D&reserved=0">18 to 45</a>, with the number killed by the drug up <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/01/06/mexico-arrest-ovidio-guzman-biden/">94 percent</a> since 2019.
<ul>
<li>Of the record 107,000 fatal drug overdoses in 2021, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/01/06/mexico-arrest-ovidio-guzman-biden/">two-thirds</a> involved fentanyl – on average, one person in the U.S. dies from a fentanyl overdose <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2022/fentanyl-crisis-mexico-cartel/?itid=lk_inline_enhanced-template&itid=lk_inline_manual_17&itid=lk_inline_manual_42">every seven minutes</a>.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The DEA <a href="https://www.dea.gov/press-releases/2022/12/20/drug-enforcement-administration-announces-seizure-over-379-million-deadly">seized more than double</a> the amount of fentanyl-laced, fake prescription pills in 2022 than it seized in 2021.</li>
<li>In just the <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fentanyl-seized-arizona-port-entry-3-months-surpasses-12-months-2022">first three months</a> of FY 2023, the Nogales, Arizona port of entry <a href="https://twitter.com/CBPPortDirNOG/status/1612532930773127169">has already seized</a> more fentanyl than the entire previous fiscal year, which was a record year.</li>
BIDEN IGNORES THE SOUTHERN BORDER AS HIS HUMANITARIAN CATASTROPHE WORSENS
- Only after two years of intense criticism did Biden finally relent and go to the border for a "tightly controlled visit" criticized as nothing more than a "dog and pony show."
<ul>
<li>Biden previously said the crisis wasn't worthy of his attention, saying there are "<a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house/biden-defends-not-visiting-arizona-border">more important things</a>" than visiting the southern border.</li>
<li>Ahead of Biden's visit, El Paso <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/crime/el-paso-clears-downtown-migrant-camps-biden-visit">cleared the streets of makeshift homeless camps</a> to maintain optics rather than address the reality of the border crisis.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Meanwhile, Border Patrol agents are left demoralized and "<a href="https://nypost.com/2023/01/07/border-agents-frustrated-with-white-house-handling-of-border/">beyond frustrated</a>" by the Biden administration's handling of the crisis.</li>
<li>Despite Biden's promise of a "<a href="https://joebiden.com/immigration/">fair and humane immigration system</a>," his open border policies aren't compassionate; they are deadly.
<ul>
<li>Earlier this month in southern New Mexico, a suspected human smuggler <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/01/05/cbp-agent-shot-by-suspected-human-smuggler-in-new-mexico/">shot a Border Patrol agent</a> in the chest in an attempt to get away, later rolling the car in a crash and leaving two others severely injured.</li>
<li>Two weeks ago in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, <a href="https://www.borderreport.com/immigration/border-crime/2-dead-8-others-injured-in-rollover-crash-thats-linked-to-human-smuggling/">two died and eight others were injured</a> in a rollover crash, with the vehicle suspected to be involved in a human smuggling operation.</li>
<li>Last week near Eagle Pass, Texas, nine illegal immigrants were found <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/9-migrants-rescued-rail-car-eagle-pass-texas-attempting-cross-southern-border">locked in a rail car</a>, all suffering from dehydration and heat exhaustion.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Unaccompanied children have become a "painfully common sight" at the southern border, with <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/border-crisis-3-girls-abandoned-rio-grande-mexican-officials-make-rescue">three young girls</a> – aged one, six, and nine years old – recently found abandoned near the Rio Grande.</li>
<li>Sex offenders are also coming across the border, with Border Patrol arresting <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/border-patrol-nab-three-convicted-sex-offenders-just-one-sector-four-days">four</a> convicted <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/border-patrol-texas-nabs-convicted-sex-offender">sex offenders</a> – three of which whose records involve minors – in just the first week of January.</li>
BIDEN AND DEMOCRATS IN CONGRESS ARE TO BLAME FOR THE BORDER CRISIS
- Biden's failed policies have created the crisis at the southern border.
- In Biden's first 100 days he took more than 94 executive actions on immigration, including halting construction of the border wall and ending the successful "Remain in Mexico" policy.
- Illegal immigrants have confirmed this: "The border is open…everybody believes that the border is open. It's open because we enter. We come in, free, no problem…We came illegally."
- Meanwhile, a new training video from ICE reveals the Biden administration lost at least 150,000 illegal immigrants during the summer of 2021.
- With the border left wide open, fears are mounting that dangerous cartel inmates part of a recent Mexican prison break will take advantage and flee into the U.S.
- It's not just Biden; Democrats in Congress have consistently voted for policies that make the border and country less secure.
- Democrats aided sanctuary cities and sent stimulus checks to illegal immigrants, opposed legislation to fund Title 42, and repeatedly voted against funding the border wall.
- Democrats voted against hiring more border agents, deporting felons, preventing illegal immigrants convicted of crimes from becoming permanent residents — and voted against strengthening the successful Remain in Mexico policy.
- Democrats voted against funding for counternarcotic operations and ensuring the enforcement of immigration laws at the border.
- Democrats voted against ensuring all local and state law enforcement are permitted to cooperate with federal immigration officials to track illegal immigrants.
- A recent Los Angeles Times/YouGov poll found that more Americans oppose Biden's immigration policies than support them.
