John Hoeven: “I rise today to join my colleagues in calling attention to the devastating fentanyl fallout, made significantly worse by…”

“I rise today to join my colleagues in calling attention to the devastating fentanyl fallout, made significantly worse by 4 years of failed Democrat open border policies and to note the return of commonsense border security policies led by Senate Republicans and President Trump. In March, Border Patrol agents encountered just 7,181 illegal immigrants attempting to cross the border--the southern border, 7,181. This is in stark contrast compared to just 1 year ago, when, under President Biden, the total encounters for the month of March totaled 137,473. That represents a 95-percent decrease in crossings, from over 137,000 to about 7,000. This sharp drop of illegal encounters is thanks to a new administration and a new Republican majority in the House and Senate, which has prioritized securing our border by resuming policies that brought historically low encounters just 4 years ago. And, I mean, policies that we put in place 4 years ago that worked then, we have put them back in place. They are working now. So all that discussion on the part of the Biden administration saying, oh, my gosh, they needed some new law somehow, just isn't so; is it? The numbers make that abundantly clear. And, of course, that means reinstating the migrant protection protocols, or the ``Remain in Mexico'' policy. Again, commonsense policies. Reinstating these policies helped curb illegal entries of individuals at our border and has begun the process of making our country safe again.…”