Washington, D.C. - Yesterday, Congressman Doug LaMalfa (R – Richvale) joined a group of Republican Members of Congress on an official trip to view the southern border in Arizona. During this trip, Members received an operational briefing from the U.S. Border Patrol Station in Yuma and toured their Centralized Processing Center. They also went on field tours to see the halted construction of the border wall and a staging site used by cartels to smuggle children across the border.
According to the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) there were 153,941 illegal immigrant encounters at our southern border in January 2022, a 96% increase from the year prior. These increases coincide with the spike of illegal drugs, such as fentanyl, coming into our southern border. The CBP seized 11,201 pounds of fentanyl in FY2021, an 134% increase from the year prior; this amount is enough to kill every American seven times over. Fentanyl poising deaths doubled in 30 states between 2019 and 2021, and fentanyl overdoses are now reported to be the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18-45.
“The state of our border is truly horrific. When President Biden halted construction of the border wall, he left giant strips of land wide open for cartels to smuggle illegal drugs, dangerous weapons, and even human trafficking victims into our country. I was appalled to learn how the cartel ‘recycles’ child victims; taking them from their parents who owe the cartel and smuggling them into our country. Then, once the CBP finds the children and return them back to their families, the cartel takes them all over again. The human rights abuses and national security crisis needs to stop. The Biden Administration knows what’s going on, yet refuses to do anything about it,” said Congressman LaMalfa.
Congressman Doug LaMalfa is a lifelong farmer representing California’s First Congressional District, including Butte, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou and Tehama Counties.
###
