Human trafficking at southern border 'leads to slavery’: Sen. Marshall
Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Roger Marshall, R-Kan., discuss how the end of Title 42 is worsening America's border crisis on 'Lawrence Jones Cross Country.'
To say that our border is about to be overwhelmed with the end of Title 42 is an understatement. Our border and the heroic men and women who patrol it have been overwhelmed for more than two years now. Now the dam – long spilling over – is about to break, and communities in border states are going to experience chaos and lawlessness like this country has not yet seen.
As a mother of young children living in Los Angeles County, I can tell you that soft border policies are in direct conflict with any parent seeking to keep their children safe. This isn't the Los Angeles of yesteryear.
We have already seen the footage of the streets of El Paso, Texas, completely overrun. You have seen the images of massive amounts of people lining up at our border on the Mexico side of the Rio Grande Valley. Border Patrol intelligence revealed more than 700,000 migrants were waiting in Mexico for Title 42 to expire – this figure is larger than the population of El Paso, (600,000).
The only way to end this crisis, and to head off the much worse one literally waiting on America’s doorstep, is to change policy.
Even worse than the visible tsunami of people showing up to claim asylum, numbers of known "gotaways" are also already through the roof, according to Homeland Security’s own statistics. These are the ones who do not surrender themselves to law enforcement or try to apply for asylum; they’re the ones who have to run and avoid authorities to get into the United States. As former Acting CBP Commissioner Mark Morgan explains, these are the worst of the worst actors, and include murderers, sexual predators and gang members, to name a few.
DHS SEC. MAYORKAS TAKES VICTORY LAP AS BORDER SURGE CONTINUES
I live in a city close to the border – one overrun by a crime wave that has only worsened during the course of this manmade disaster. Unless the proper steps are taken, what my family and other southern Californians have experienced for more than two years will become the new daily reality for cities, towns and neighborhoods across America.
From 2020 to 2022, homicides, robberies, assaults and car thefts all increased by double-digit rates amid Soros-backed District Attorney George Gascon’s efforts to shield illegal aliens from prosecutions, in a city where 1 in 5 people are either here illegally themselves or live with someone who is. With more people pouring over the border, with Border Patrol even more overwhelmed, and with more bad actors using this crisis to evade authorities, things are going to get much, much worse in the City of Angels.
Meanwhile, more Americans died from fentanyl in 2021 than during the entire course of the Vietnam War. Fentanyl deaths among American children and teens have also spiked, a heartbreaking reality of our border crisis. More chaos means more cover for traffickers, and that will mean more weapons-grade poisons on our streets, in our neighborhoods, and at our kids’ schools.
Now, without even this remnant of a Band-Aid solution, this crisis is only going to get worse. U.S. authorities will be more overwhelmed than ever before and bad actors are going to escape past them into the interior.
ENDING TITLE 42 PROVES BIDEN'S BORDER DISASTER COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED
The reality is that the Biden administration has been using Title 42 – a public health measure used during the pandemic – as a stopgap measure to mitigate the impending chaos of his own disastrous open-borders policies. Biden’s own administration asked the courts to prolong Title 42 just a few months ago.
Our Border Patrol agents have been stretched further than ever thought possible for the duration of this crisis. With Title 42 gone, it only makes sense to wonder if there are any agents left to arrest bad guys and seize deadly drugs like fentanyl, or if the entire agency is going to be overwhelmed with the influx of paperwork.
President Biden made headlines recently by announcing that his administration would send 1,500 troops to the border. Anyone with sense knows this is for show. Biden could mobilize the entire 82nd Airborne Division and it would not make any difference as long as our policies encourage lawlessness, empower cartels, and enable the industrial-level trafficking and smuggling operation that has been a reality in border states every single day since Biden took office.
The only way to end this crisis, and to head off the much worse one literally waiting on America’s doorstep, is to change policy.
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That means ensuring that the laws duly passed by the American people are faithfully enforced. It means giving American authorities the tools they need to confront and destroy the cartels enriching themselves off this crisis through incalculable human suffering. It means finishing the wall – including other necessary infrastructure such as access roads.
Last week, House Republicans delivered on their promise to pass a strong border bill; now it’s time for them to use the power of the purse to bring Biden and Senate Democrats to the table on this issue. They have already shown it can be done on the debt ceiling, thanks to the backbone of the House Freedom Caucus. Just like we have to fix federal spending so that we don’t drown our children in debt, we have to secure our border to protect our children’s safety.
The preamble to our Constitution outlines some of the most critical duties of any good government, and among them is the duty to "establish Justice and insure domestic Tranquility."
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American families deserve better than chaos and confusion. Our kids deserve better than to grow up unprotected from overdoses and smugglers. Migrants deserve better than a reckless promise of exploiting the American asylum process only to be exploited themselves in return.
In order for America to be truly free, the rule of law must prevail. In order to be a place worth living, our streets and communities must be safe for American families to raise their children.