WASHINGTON, DC, Aug 29 — Texas and Arizona governors declared their states under siege as the flow of illegal migrants continues to accelerate, bringing in fentanyl – the deadliest of drugs. Governors Ducey [AZ] and Abbott [TX] officially describe it as an “invasion.” But they are not alone. The majority of Americans across the country — north and south, east and west — agree with them.
A poll conducted earlier this month revealed that 54% of the “516 Democrats, 317 Republicans, and 141 independents” who participated in the survey believe “the U.S. is experiencing an invasion at the southern border.” Bearing in mind that while the poll was conducted by a credible organization, Ipsos, it was initiated by National Public Radio [NPR], a source noted for its left-leaning bias. Thus, the report seems to reflect that bias despite the fact that its findings are objective, showing that “Nearly three-quarters (73%) of Americans believe the large number of migrants apprehended at the southern border is a problem.”
As one observer put it, “to some of us calling it a problem is an understatement of the facts. But the Biden administration and its progressive Congress apparently could care less. Rather than finding ways to check the deadly invasion, they seem disinterested.”
Senator John Thune [R-SD] says Customs and Border Protection [CBP] personnel are so busy dealing with the more than 1,734,686 illegals who have crossed the southern border so far in the current fiscal year — with more than two months to go — that fewer agents are available for field work. “That, of course, leaves our borders wide open to illegal activity, including the drug trafficking that is flooding our country with fentanyl. It also means that even with all the apprehensions the Border Patrol has made, many more individuals are getting through unstopped. One source reports that so far this fiscal year, there have been more than half a million ‘gotaways’ – individuals the Border Patrol saw but were unable to apprehend.”
The gotaways pose the biggest threat; they are mainly bad guys — smugglers carrying fentanyl and other deadly drugs that are killing Americans, including our kids, at never-seen-before-seen rates. According to the Centers for Disease Control [CDC] fentanyl is “hundreds of times more potent than heroin” and 80 times more powerful than morphine. More than 100,000 deaths in the U.S. were caused by fentanyl in the 12 months from December 2020 to December 2021 and it is already on track to kill more than that number in the 12 months ending in December 2022.
Sarah Arnold, writing for Townhall, says that NPR acknowledges that “fentanyl overdose deaths are up in recent years, and that much of the U.S. fentanyl supply is smuggled through the border.” But she says, NPR “did their best to debunk those claims, blaming Republicans for ‘spreading’ false information. Nonetheless, Arnold points out that in a recent six day period the Border Patrol intercepted four truckloads of fentanyl — as much as 250 pounds of the stuff that would have been distributed throughout the United States, quoting U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman who said “A decade ago, we didn’t even know about fentanyl, and now it’s a national crisis… the amount of fentanyl we are seizing at the border is staggering. The number of fentanyl seizures and fentanyl-related deaths in our district are unprecedented.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. Attorney for Southern California, Adam Gordon, points out that fentanyl is so powerful that just a tiny amount will kill you. “People are overdosing by accident, with many unaware that they are even taking fentanyl. No drug is safe in this era. Do not experiment with any illicit drug, because it might contain fentanyl. And it just might be the last thing you do.”