Political Quotes

“Madam Chair, it is pretty hard to get farther away from the southern border than Grand Forks, North Dakota, but in Grand Forks, just like many communities across North Dakota, somebody is dying from fentanyl poisoning, and 100 percent of those pills are made by cartels in Mexico. I rise today in support of my amendment No. 1 to the fiscal year 2025 Department of Homeland Security Appropriations. If passed, this amendment will defund the implementation of COVID-19- era guidance that reduces the hours of operation for Customs and Border Protection at certain northern border points of entry. Bringing these ports of entry hours back to their pre-pandemic schedule will help our Border Patrol agents respond to a massive increase in border encounters and non-marijuana-related drug seizures in places like North Dakota, Idaho, Minnesota, and western New York. According to CBP data, both land encounters and drug smuggling have skyrocketed in the past few years. Specifically, in January of 2021, there were only 997 northern land border encounters. Contrast that with January of 2024 when there were 15,800 encounters. That is a 1,484 percent increase. Excluding marijuana, drug smuggling has also increased by 1,153 percent along the borders between fiscal year 2021 and 2023. Due to the Biden administration's failure to secure our southwest border, our Border Patrol agents at the northern border have had to revert resources and personnel to the southwest border.…”