Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., criticized President Joe Biden's border policies during a recent House Homeland Security Committee hearing.
Green said the result of Biden’s policies is the crime and drug related issues the U.S. is currently facing, according to a July 20 Twitter post.
“President Biden’s border policies: Rapid parole - Stopped detention - Stopped deportation - Catch-and-release," Green said on Twitter. "The result — cartels have flooded our country with drugs and crime.”
In a July 19 House Homeland Security Committee hearing called “Biden and Mayorkas’ Open Border: Advancing Cartel Crime in America,” Green spoke on the two major problems the cartels present, the first being the issue of fentanyl, according to a news release from his office.
“Every dollar the cartels rake in comes at the cost of an American life or livelihood," Green said in the release. "There were more than 109,000 drug deaths in 2022 alone, many from fentanyl. And the cartels are continuing to push fentanyl into our country in record amounts, destroying our communities, one family at a time.”
Fox News reported authorities have already confiscated 19,000 pounds of the substance at the southern border during this fiscal year. This amount surpasses the 14,000 pounds seized in fiscal year 2022 and the 10,000 pounds in 2021. The article said fentanyl, which can be lethal even in small doses, is predominantly manufactured in Mexico with the assistance of Chinese producers.
Green also spoke on the issue of the human trafficking operations run by the cartels, his release reported. He said there has been a “tidal wave of human smuggling and trafficking,” leading to the cartels making billions of dollars.
Human trafficking arrests have risen by 50% and convictions have risen by 80% since fiscal year 2022, according to the Heritage Foundation. In a report on the large amounts of Unaccompanied Alien Children (UACs) entering the country, Heritage said that there are around 12,000 UACs entering the U.S. per month in 2023.
Approximately 60% of these UACs are picked up by the cartels and used for child pornography or drug trafficking, per the article, Heritage Foundation reported. The article said the current border policies and standards have resulted in more children falling into the hands of cartels and others, and have seen many children sent to “family members” who the children have never seen before.
USA Today reported children are not the only ones mistreated at the hands of the cartels. Mexican drug cartels and other criminal organizations have set up illegal cannabis grows in Northern California and Oregon where they attract migrants to work for them. Workers are subject to brutal conditions, are trafficked and sometimes disappear or are murdered.
There was a report of a 17-year-old who was decapitated along with his father, USA Today reported. The cartels running the operations threaten the families of the workers if they report to the police.
"The United States is the most powerful nation in the world, and yet, we do not control our own sovereign Southwest border. If that’s not evidence of Mayorkas’ failures, I don’t know what is," Green said in the release.
