[Joint House and Senate Hearing, 118 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]




 
       PRESIDENT BIDEN'S BORDER CRISIS IS A PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS

=======================================================================

                             JOINT HEARING

                               BEFORE THE

              SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATIONS

                                AND THE

                         SUBCOMMITTEE ON HEALTH

                                 OF THE

                    COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                    ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS

                             FIRST SESSION

                               __________

                           FEBRUARY 15, 2023

                               __________

                            Serial No. 118-9
                            
                            
                 [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]           
                            


     Published for the use of the Committee on Energy and Commerce

                   govinfo.gov/committee/house-energy
                        energycommerce.house.gov
                        
                        
                        
                        
                                     ______

                U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 
 53-027                   WASHINGTON : 2023
 
         
                        
                        
                        
                        
                        
                        
                        
                        
                    COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE

                   CATHY McMORRIS RODGERS, Washington
                                  Chair
MICHAEL C. BURGESS, Texas            FRANK PALLONE, Jr., New Jersey
ROBERT E. LATTA, Ohio                  Ranking Member
BRETT GUTHRIE, Kentucky              ANNA G. ESHOO, California
H. MORGAN GRIFFITH, Virginia         DIANA DeGETTE, Colorado
GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida            JAN SCHAKOWSKY, Illinois
BILL JOHNSON, Ohio                   DORIS O. MATSUI, California
LARRY BUCSHON, Indiana               KATHY CASTOR, Florida
RICHARD HUDSON, North Carolina       JOHN P. SARBANES, Maryland
TIM WALBERG, Michigan                PAUL TONKO, New York
EARL L. ``BUDDY'' CARTER, Georgia    YVETTE D. CLARKE, New York
JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina          TONY CARDENAS, California
GARY J. PALMER, Alabama              RAUL RUIZ, California
NEAL P. DUNN, Florida                SCOTT H. PETERS, California
JOHN R. CURTIS, Utah                 DEBBIE DINGELL, Michigan
DEBBBIE LESKO, Arizona               MARC A. VEASEY, Texas
GREG PENCE, Indiana                  ANN M. KUSTER, New Hampshire
DAN CRENSHAW, Texas                  ROBIN L. KELLY, Illinois
JOHN JOYCE, Pennsylvania             NANETTE DIAZ BARRAGAN, California
KELLY ARMSTRONG, North Dakota, Vice  LISA BLUNT ROCHESTER, Delaware
    Chair                            DARREN SOTO, Florida
RANDY K. WEBER, Sr., Texas           ANGIE CRAIG, Minnesota
RICK W. ALLEN, Georgia               KIM SCHRIER, Washington
TROY BALDERSON, Ohio                 LORI TRAHAN, Massachusetts
RUSS FULCHER, Idaho                  LIZZIE FLETCHER, Texas
AUGUST PFLUGER, Texas
DIANA HARSHBARGER, Tennessee
MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS, Iowa
KAT CAMMACK, Florida
JAY OBERNOLTE, California
                                 ------                                

                           Professional Staff

                      NATE HODSON, Staff Director
                   SARAH BURKE, Deputy Staff Director
               TIFFANY GUARASCIO, Minority Staff Director
              Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations

                      H. MORGAN GRIFFITH, Virginia
                                 Chairman
MICHAEL C. BURGESS, Texas            KATHY CASTOR, Florida
BRETT GUTHRIE, Kentucky                Ranking Member
JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina          DIANA DeGETTE, Colorado
GARY J. PALMER, Alabama              JAN SCHAKOWSKY, Illinois
DEBBIE LESKO, Arizona, Vice Chair    PAUL TONKO, New York
DAN CRENSHAW, Texas                  RAUL RUIZ, California
KELLY ARMSTRONG, North Dakota        SCOTT H. PETERS, California
KAT CAMMACK, Florida                 FRANK PALLONE, Jr., New Jersey (ex 
CATHY McMORRIS RODGERS, Washington       officio)
    (ex officio)

                         Subcommittee on Health

                        BRETT GUTHRIE, Kentucky
                                 Chairman
MICHAEL C. BURGESS, Texas            ANNA G. ESHOO, California
ROBERT E. LATTA, Ohio                  Ranking Member
H. MORGAN GRIFFITH, Virginia         JOHN P. SARBANES, Maryland
GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida            TONY CARDENAS, California
BILL JOHNSON, Ohio                   RAUL RUIZ, California
LARRY BUCSHON, Indiana, Vice Chair   DEBBIE DINGELL, Michigan
RICHARD HUDSON, North Carolina       ANN M. KUSTER, New Hampshire
EARL L. ``BUDDY'' CARTER, Georgia    ROBIN L. KELLY, Illinois
NEAL P. DUNN, Florida                NANETTE DIAZ BARRAGAN, California
GREG PENCE, Indiana                  LISA BLUNT ROCHESTER, Delaware
DAN CRENSHAW, Texas                  ANGIE CRAIG, Minnesota
JOHN JOYCE, Pennsylvania             KIM SCHRIER, Washington
DIANA HARSHBARGER, Tennessee         LORI TRAHAN, Massachusetts
MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS, Iowa       FRANK PALLONE, Jr., New Jersey (ex 
JAY OBERNOLTE, California                officio)
CATHY McMORRIS RODGERS, Washington 
    (ex officio)
                             C O N T E N T S

                              ----------                              
                                                                   Page
Hon. H. Morgan Griffith, a Representative in Congress from the 
  Commonwealth of Virginia, opening statement....................     1
    Prepared statement...........................................     4
Hon. Tony Cardenas, a Representative in Congress from the State 
  of California, opening statement...............................    10
    Prepared statement...........................................    12
Hon. Michael C. Burgess, a Representative in Congress from the 
  State of Texas, opening statement..............................    14
    Prepared statement...........................................    16
Hon. Marc A. Veasey, a Representative in Congress from the State 
  of Texas, opening statement....................................    21
    Prepared statement...........................................    23
Hon. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Representative in Congress from 
  the State of Washington, opening statement.....................    26
    Prepared statement...........................................    28
Hon. Angie Craig, a Representative in Congress from the State of 
  Minnesota, opening statement...................................    31

                               Witnesses

Urbino Martinez, Brooks County Sheriff...........................    33
    Prepared statement...........................................    36
    Answers to submitted questions...............................    94
Stuart Archer, President and Chief Executive Officer, Oceans 
  Healthcare.....................................................    39
    Prepared statement...........................................    41
    Answers to submitted questions...............................    95
Rochelle M. Garza, President, Texas Civil Rights Project.........    46
    Prepared statement...........................................    48
Brandon Judd, President, National Border Patrol Council..........    54
    Prepared statement...........................................    56
    Submitted questions for the record \1\.......................    98

                           Submitted Material

Inclusion of the following was approved by unanimous consent.
Report, ``Drug Seizure Statistics FY2023,'' U.S. Customs and 
  Border Protection..............................................    91

----------

\1\ Mr. Judd did not answer submitted questions for the record by the 
time of publication. Replies received after publication will be 
retained in committee files and made available at https://
docs.house.gov/Committee/Calendar/ByEvent.aspx?EventID=115348.


       PRESIDENT BIDEN'S BORDER CRISIS IS A PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS

                              ----------                              


                      WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2023

                  House of Representatives,
      Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations,
                             joint with the
                            Subcommittee on Health,
                          Committee on Energy and Commerce,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The subcommittees met, pursuant to call, at 7:10 p.m., in 
Building D, 301 W. Railroad Street, Weslaco, Texas, Hon. Morgan 
Griffith (chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and 
Investigations) presiding.
    Members present: Representatives Griffith, Burgess, Latta, 
Bilirakis, Carter, Crenshaw, Joyce, Harshbarger, Miller-Meeks, 
Cammack, Rodgers (ex officio), Cardenas, and Craig.
    Also present: Representatives Walberg, Weber, Allen, 
Pfluger, and Veasey.
    Staff present: Kate Arey, Content Manager and Digital 
Assistant; Sean Brebbia, Chief Counsel, Oversight and 
Investigations; Jolie Brochin, Clerk, Health; Sarah Burke, 
Deputy Staff Director; Kristin Flukey, Professional Staff 
Member, Health; Nate Hodson, Staff Director; Tara Hupman, Chief 
Counsel; Emily King, Member Services Director; Tiffany 
Guarascio, Minority Staff Director; Perry Hamilton, Minority 
Member Services and Outreach Manager; Elysa Montfort, Minority 
Press Secretary; Juan Negrete, Minority Professional Staff 
Member; and Harry Samuels, Minority Oversight Counsel.
    Mr. Griffith. Good evening, everyone, and welcome. This is 
the joint hearing of the Subcommittee on Oversight and 
Investigations and the Subcommittee on Health, and we will now 
come to order.
    The Chair now recognizes himself for 5 minutes for an 
opening statement.

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. H. MORGAN GRIFFITH, A REPRESENTATIVE 
         IN CONGRESS FROM THE COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

    Good evening. Welcome to the first joint Oversight and 
Investigations and Health Subcommittee field hearing examining 
President Biden's border crisis. It is important we convene 
here in Texas to shed light on the brutal and unsustainable 
conditions this President's administration has caused at our 
border. No other country in the world operates its borders in 
the manner this administration has chosen.
    According to a recent January 2023 Pew Research report, 
monthly encounters between U.S. Border Patrol agents and 
migrants attempting to cross into the United States at the 
U.S.-Mexico border remain at levels not seen in more than two 
decades. There were more than 206,000 reported encounters in 
November 2022, according to the U.S. Customs and Border 
Protection. For context, the highest number reported encounters 
in the previous administration was 132,856.
    The flood of migrants takes our Customs and Border agents 
away from stopping the cartels and narcotics from being 
trafficked into our country. Substances such as fentanyl and 
fentanyl analogs are killing Americans on a daily basis. In 
2022 alone, the United States Drug Enforcement Agency seized 
over 379 million doses of fentanyl, which is enough to kill 
every American. We must pass the HALT Fentanyl Act I have 
championed along with Representative Latta. This bill would 
permanently schedule fentanyl analogs as schedule I.
    As one McAllen, Texas, Border Patrol representative told 
reporters at FOX News, quote, ``We joined to stop all those 
statistics, the fentanyl, the rapists, the murderers, the 
molesters, and those people are still out there. If I'm over 
here with 100 women and kids ... that's going to take hours of 
my time and my partner's time,'' which, of course, would take 
them away from the border.
    While that is understandable that they would take that 
time--we want to help these vulnerable people--we must also 
address other issues at our southern border. Among those is the 
release of unaccompanied minor children.
    The HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement, ORR, is responsible 
for overseeing and safeguarding the thousands of unaccompanied 
children coming across the border. The administration's apathy 
to securing the borders has caused the number of children the 
ORR is charged with looking after to skyrocket from 1,929 
children in October of 2020 to 20,339 children in April of 
2021.
    I've had serious concerns about what ORR considers to be 
appropriate background checks. In 2021, I visited emergency 
intake operations at Fort Bliss, Texas, and was both shocked 
and disappointed at what I learned there. There was no 
collaboration with law enforcement for background checks when 
vetting sponsors, and the public records check they were using 
were widely available internet search engines.
    A September 2022 inspector general study related to the 
operation at Fort Bliss solidified my concerns. The study 
concluded case managers lacked sufficient child welfare 
training and were ineffective at reuniting children with 
parents or sponsors. One interviewee informed the inspector 
general there was a pervasive sense of despair among children 
at the facility who reportedly experienced distress, anxiety, 
and in some cases panic attacks. The inspector general reported 
on instances of children physically harming themselves due to 
case manager negligence.
    Additionally, the inspector general's report found that at 
Fort Bliss, ORR eliminated critical safeguards from the 
sponsor's screening process, thereby potentially increasing 
children's risk of release to unsafe sponsors. Further, the 
inspector general found ORR supervisors had grown concerned 
that policy changes prioritized fast-tracking release of 
unaccompanied children to sponsors quickly, rather than taking 
the steps to, quote, vet sponsors and protect children from 
risks such as trafficking and exploitation. Supervisors also 
reported that inexperienced ORR case managers failed to 
consider children's significant history of abuse and neglect or 
whether sex offenders resided in the potential sponsor's 
household.
    The administration's border neglect is not limited to 
poisoning Americans and undercutting our Border Patrol agents, 
but the White House's immigration policies are essentially 
printing billions of dollars for Mexican cartels who have 
dramatically increased profits in their human trafficking 
business. Homeland Security investigations estimated the human 
trafficking industry generates about $13 billion today, up from 
$500 million in just 2018. According to Border Patrol sources, 
criminal organizations trafficking women, children, families, 
and single adults over the U.S.-Mexico border earned as much as 
$14 million a day in February 2021.
    The disastrous impacts of this country's health as a result 
of this administration's policies must stop. This committee 
will shed light on the national emergency, even if the White 
House continues to ignore it.
    I appreciate the opportunity to hold this hearing tonight 
and look forward to working towards solutions to solve these 
issues.
    The Chair now recognizes Mr. Cardenas for 5 minutes for an 
opening statement.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Griffith follows:]
GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
     
    
 OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. TONY CARDENAS, A REPRESENTATIVE IN 
             CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

    Mr. Cardenas. Thank you, Chairman. Appreciate this 
opportunity for us to be here outside of the Capitol to have 
this field hearing. A lot of important issues we're going to 
hear about today, but I think equally important is that, even 
though some of us might have some different perspectives on 
what the solutions are, I think that every member of this 
committee does care about this country deeply and certainly 
wants to make sure that we make good policy decisions so that 
we can improve the lives of every American citizen and every 
person in our country.
    I'm blessed to be a United States citizen, but equally 
blessed to be a United States Congressman representing the 
community that I was born and raised in. But I'm also proud of 
my Mexican parents who raised me in this great country and 
taught me the values of being fair and treating people with 
dignity and respect. And I know that in our Energy and Commerce 
Committee, by and large, we do that by respecting the people 
who come before us, witnesses like yourselves. So I also want 
to thank all of you for being here today as witnesses to inform 
us of what is going on in this part of our country so that we 
can be better prepared to make good policies.
    When it comes to our borders, one of the things that I like 
to point out, the information that I've received is that most 
of the fentanyl and other drugs that come through our borders 
actually come through ports of entry. They don't come on the 
backs of unfortunate migrants or people who are seeking asylum 
who are trying to just make a better life or actually flee for 
their lives. So hopefully today we'll hear some more of the 
facts about what is ailing our country when it comes to why is 
it that we have so much illicit drugs on the streets of 
America.
    And one of the things that is for sure: If we didn't have a 
market, these drugs wouldn't be on the streets of our country. 
I truly do believe that every person deserves the support that 
they need should they find themselves addicted to any 
substance. And as I mentioned in one of the hearings just a 
couple of weeks ago in Washington, DC, I asked permission for 
my son, who goes to NA meetings, that I'm one of the lucky 
ones. I'm one of the lucky ones that, now that he has found 
help and now that he is trying to better his life, he tells me, 
``Dad, every day that I'm sober is only one day. And tomorrow, 
I don't know, and I pray that I get the support and the love 
that I need.''
    I'll tell you what, there's only one good thing that has 
come out of the fact that my son at one time was addicted to 
substances, and that is not a day goes by--not a day goes by--
that we don't tell each other ``I love you.'' I'm one of the 
lucky ones.
    We have heard testimony from parents, family members who 
love their children, love their family members, and they are no 
longer here with us. And one of the things that I want to point 
out, that, yes, for people who are selling drugs, there must be 
punishment. Being punitive is definitely something that we need 
to make sure we do it and do it right. But for those 
individuals who unfortunately have found themselves addicted 
and cannot help themselves, we need to help them too.
    There are many prongs to the solution. There are many 
issues that face us as a nation. And pointing at one border is 
not going to get us out of our problems. It is only going to 
allow us to mask the truth. This is a multiprong problem that 
we have. It's not just one border. It's not just one foreign 
country. It is our issue as United States citizens to make sure 
that we look not only to solutions to our legislatures and our 
governments, but also to look into our own hearts and realize 
that we can do better.
    So on behalf of the people that I represent and the people 
who have chosen to send me to Congress, I really do appreciate 
this opportunity, not only to my fellow colleagues who made the 
trip here today, but also to all the people who are here and 
are listening and do want solutions for you, for your 
communities, for your families, for everybody in this great 
country.
    So thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Cardenas follows:]
    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
 
    Mr. Griffith. I thank the gentleman.
    I now recognize Dr. Burgess on behalf of the Health 
Subcommittee for 5 minutes for an opening statement.

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. MICHAEL C. BURGESS, A REPRESENTATIVE 
              IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF TEXAS

    Mr. Burgess. I thank the chair and just echo Mr. Cardenas' 
thanks to all of our constituents for making the trip to be 
part of this field hearing. It is a very important hearing, and 
it is appropriate that we are doing it here in the Rio Grande 
Valley.
    So, I'm no stranger to issues regarding border security, no 
stranger to problems surrounding the immigration difficulties 
and fentanyl. In addition to being a Texan, I practiced 
medicine for three decades before coming to Congress to work on 
these issues. The Office of Refugee Resettlement that Mr. 
Griffith addressed is part of our subcommittee's jurisdiction, 
and it is appropriate that we be here on the ground to see 
firsthand.
    And I will just share with you, it is work done by the O&I 
Committee in previous Congresses that has actually made the 
Office of Refugee Resettlement stronger than what it was in 
2014 when we were faced with a similar crisis with 
unaccompanied children coming across our border.
    All of us have worked on legislation to combat the misuse 
of opioids and to ensure the safety of unaccompanied children 
at the border.
    This past year, the Office of National Drug Control Policy 
released their annual report to Congress regarding High 
Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas. Of 33 of these areas, the 
three located in Texas--Houston, South Texas, and West Texas--
reported large disruptions of drug trafficking organizations, 
as well as seizures. All of the Texas-based high intensity drug 
areas, the drugs seized were worth over a combined $100 
million.
    In addition, Customs and Border Protection reported 
approximately 7.8 thousand pounds of drug seizures in October 
of fiscal year 2023 and 9,000 pounds of drug seizures in 
November of fiscal year 2023. I mean, that's a lot of drugs.
    Just this past week, the Dallas Morning News reported that 
three teens tragically passed away from fentanyl-laced pills. 
Six other teens were hospitalized from exposure to the 
substance in the city of Carrollton, Texas, just next to the 
district that I represent. These 9 Texas students were all 
younger than 17 years of age. After the story broke, and 
parents sat waiting to be notified as local authorities began 
to take action, but to all of us this is unacceptable.
    It goes without saying that the problem has infiltrated our 
schools to the point where distribution of these substances 
happens unsupervised and oftentimes on social media apps.
    While our number-one priority should be securing our border 
to protect the unchecked distribution of fentanyl, we must 
already accept the problem that is already here. The way in 
which we treat patients exposed to opioids and addicted opioids 
has drastically evolved in the past decade.
    The scourge of fentanyl in our community is a completely 
different disease from what it was even 5 years ago. The last 
time the committee worked on the SUPPORT Act, which was signed 
into law in 2018, our focus was correctly on opioids and opioid 
addiction. But since then, the landscape has changed 
drastically, to include patients dying from only 3 milligrams 
of fentanyl. Basically, we're talking about a pencil tip.
    Patients exposed to the high-potency substance often suffer 
from other addictions and have severe mental and behavorial 
health problems. And I appreciate Mr. Cardenas sharing his 
story with us. As he knows, these patients and treating these 
patients can be complex clinical situations.
    Our committee, our focus, should remain on examining 
Federal laws that prevent patient access to care. And one of 
those is the IMD exclusion, the Institution for Mental Disease 
exclusion, which we addressed in the reconciliation bill. 
Unfortunately, it wasn't--an amendment was not allowed to go 
forward, but this prohibits Medicaid payments to residential 
mental health facilities with more than 16 beds. We actually 
can improve our track record by addressing that deficiency. We 
should focus on bolstering our workforce and supporting our 
providers to ensure that mental health and substance abuse 
patients have access to personalized care and medicine.
    So, our border is important. Our border agents deserve our 
respect, and I hope that with this hearing today we can convey 
some of that respect.
    And, Mr. Chairman, I'll yield back to you.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Burgess follows:]
  [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]  
    
    Mr. Griffith. I thank the gentleman for yielding back.
    I now recognize Mr. Veasey for 5 minutes for an opening 
statement.

 OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. MARC A. VEASEY, A REPRESENTATIVE IN 
                CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF TEXAS

    Mr. Veasey. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much.
    And I think all of us know that Texas has been hit hard by 
the opioid crisis. One in four Texans have experienced an 
opioid overdose or know someone who has. And as it was just 
pointed out, in north Texas recently, we experienced a string 
of similar deaths, including in high-school-aged children. 
Because of this, I join my colleagues in taking action to 
address the opioid crisis and give much relief to people here 
in my home State of Texas.
    Last Congress, we passed a bipartisan mental health and 
substance abuse use treatment package, H.R. 7666, that is, 
Restoring Hope for Mental Health and Well-Being Act of 2022, 
and it was later signed into law as part of the Consolidated 
Appropriations Act of 2023. This historic piece of legislation 
ensures that medical practitioners are prepared to identify and 
treat substance abuse disorders and increase access to 
medication-assisted treatment. It also authorizes billions of 
dollars in public health programs that address the mental 
health and substance abuse crisis, including both the substance 
use prevention, treatment, and recovery services block grant 
and State opioid response grants.
    We should be focusing heavily on increasing access to 
prevention, treatment, and recovery for those struggling with 
substance abuse. I would welcome a field hearing in Texas that 
explored bipartisan solutions to this public health crisis. We 
were able to work together on bipartisan solutions last 
Congress, when Democrats were in the majority. Instead, we are 
here discussing things like the militarization of our border.
    We continue to hear misinformation that falsely links 
illegal immigration with a surge in fentanyl trafficking, and 
that is simply not reality. We know for a fact--we know for a 
fact, even from very conservative organizations like the Cato 
Institute, which is founded by the Koch brothers, we know that 
a majority of fentanyl-related convictions do not involve 
undocumented immigrants.
    In 2021, the number of U.S. citizens convicted of fentanyl 
was 10 times higher than the convictions of undocumented 
immigrants for the same offense. We also know that a majority 
of fentanyl smuggled illegally comes through legal ports of 
entry and not at illegal crossings. Instead of acknowledging 
these facts and taking constructive action to address the 
opioid crisis, Republicans are using misinformation to 
encourage excessive incarcerations--which we should have 
learned something from, from the '90s--detentions, and 
deportations at the border.
    This field hearing today is nothing more than a political 
stunt targeted at the extreme elements of the Republican Party. 
Enough of the misinformation. We need a facts-based approach to 
the humanitarian crisis at the border. President Biden has 
taken steps to streamline the immigration process by expanding 
pathways for safe, orderly, and humane migration without 
compromising border security. This has included expanding the 
parole process for immigrants from certain countries, expanding 
refugee resettlement opportunities, and modernizing appointment 
processes at U.S. ports of entry. Such efforts are already 
showing signs of success. January 2023 saw some of the lowest 
levels of monthly border encounters since February 2021.
    In contrast, Republicans seem more interested in political 
stunts like this one than working with the President and 
Democrats on a humane and lawful approach to border security 
and immigration, like passing a comprehensive immigration 
reform bill. For example, congressional Republicans have 
repeatedly voted against bills funding security at the border, 
including most recently a $4.9 billion supplemental funding 
request in December of 2022. It is clear that Republicans are 
more interested in politics than rolling up their sleeves and 
doing the hard work to address this humanitarian crisis at the 
border and fixing our broken immigration system and doing 
something about this fentanyl problem that is plaguing all of 
our communities.
    We have had an opportunity to talk about evidence-based 
approach to address substance use--substance abuse use, but we 
were denied testimony from an expert witness who has worked 
directly with communities affected by fentanyl along the 
border. This is a huge missed opportunity that really could 
have made a difference in the lives of people in the 
surrounding communities. If Republicans are serious about 
addressing illicit fentanyl, I would hope that they would work 
with us on real solutions rather than dodge opportunities from 
witnesses with firsthand experience.
    I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides 
of the aisle to address the opioid crisis in our communities 
and this humanitarian crisis at our border.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Veasey follows:]
    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    Mr. Griffith. I thank the gentleman.
    And now the Chair recognizes the chair of the full Energy 
and Commerce Committee, Mrs. McMorris Rodgers, for her 5-minute 
opening statement.

      OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. CATHY McMORRIS RODGERS, A 
    REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF WASHINGTON

    Mrs. Rodgers. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And a big thank you 
to everyone for being here as we roll up our sleeves to go to 
work to address the border crisis, the fentanyl crisis that's 
been driven by President Biden's open borders agenda. It is 
putting Americans all across this county at risk, turning every 
town into a border town.
    More people than ever are dying from fentanyl poisoning. 
You know, most heart wrenching is that fentanyl is an attack on 
the young generation. The number-one leading cause for death 
for Americans between ages 18 and 45 is fentanyl poisoning.
    Last month in my hometown of Spokane, Washington, law 
enforcement from drug enforcement agency, DEA, the Federal 
Bureau of Investigation, FBI, and the Spokane Police Department 
seized 35 pounds of meth and 50,000 fake pills believed to be 
laced with fentanyl.
    It takes just one pill to kill. That was Molly Cain's 
message to us when she testified before our committee a few 
weeks ago. She is pleading for action and for justice for her 
son, Carson. He should be alive today, but one pill he 
purchased off of Snapchat killed him instantly. No parent 
should have to feel Molly's pain.
    Most illicit fentanyl and fentanyl analogs being smuggled 
across the border are being produced by cartels in Mexico, with 
precursor ingredients sourced by China. Criminals and drug 
dealers are selling these deadly substances in communities that 
are killing a record number of Americans--71,000 in 2021. 
Nearly two-thirds of drug overdose deaths in the United States 
in 2021 involves synthetic opioids. So far in 2023, DEA has 
seized 4.5 million fake pills laced with fentanyl, and Customs 
and Border Patrol seized more than 1,400 pounds of fentanyl. 
And this is just the amount that's been seized. How much is 
being missed?
    The U.S.-Mexico border is close to 2,000 miles long. How 
many pounds of fentanyl are coming across the areas that are 
scarcely monitored between the ports of entry? That is why we 
need to secure the border, secure the southern border and stem 
the follow of these weapons-grade poisons.
    The Biden administration is set to do the opposite and 
create more chaos if the President ends Title 42 protections. 
That cannot happen. Republicans are offering alternatives to 
keep people safe and save lives. For example, Representative 
Lesko has legislation to update Title 42 so that it can be used 
in cases of situations we see with the fentanyl crisis.
    We also must pass the HALT Fentanyl Act, led by 
Representatives Griffith and Latta, to permanently place 
fentanyl-related substances into schedule I of the Controlled 
Substances Act. This will ensure that our law enforcement 
officials have the tools that they need to keep these poisons 
off our streets. As DEA has told us, this permanent scheduling 
is their top priority.
    In addition to discussing the fentanyl crisis, we will 
examine today how the influx of migrants is straining hospital 
capacity and making it harder to treat patients.
    Yuma Regional Medical Center in Arizona has already had to 
delay care for patients because of the surge they see. They've 
had to hire additional staff to keep up with demand. El Paso, 
Texas, declared a state of emergency. The mayor said hundreds 
and hundreds of people are living in unsafe conditions because 
of the migrant surge.
    These challenges created by President Biden's open border 
agenda have only been made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic and 
workforce shortages from vaccine mandates. The status quo is 
unworkable, and it is harming patient care.
    I look forward to hearing from each of our witnesses. Thank 
you for being here on the ground, on the front lines of this 
border crisis. We want to know what more we can be doing to 
ensure that our future is secure and that our communities are 
safe.
    Thank you, and I yield back.
    [The prepared statement of Mrs. Rodgers follows:]
    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    Mr. Griffith. Thank you very much.
    The Chair now recognizes Ms. Craig for 5 minutes for her 
opening statement.

  OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. ANGIE CRAIG, A REPRESENTATIVE IN 
              CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF MINNESOTA

    Ms. Craig. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. I really 
appreciate the opportunity to be here tonight on behalf of all 
Minnesotans.
    You know, this hearing is not political theater to me. We 
have a mental health and addiction crisis in America, and that 
is making our communities less safe. Folks are dying, and 
families are being absolutely torn apart, and yes, it's leading 
to more crime.
    My constituents aren't interested in a blame game. They're 
interested in solutions. This shouldn't be a partisan circus or 
a political wedge issue. We owe that to the families of people 
we've lost to this epidemic. My sincere hope is that we can 
have an honest conversation in America at the border tonight 
with each of you.
    How is illicit fentanyl entering our Nation? We just told 
you that 97 percent of it is coming across legal ports of 
entry. I see absolutely no testimony on that fact here in this 
testimony tonight.
    What resources can we give law enforcement at the border to 
stop it? Is it more technology? Is it more Customs and Border 
Patrol officers? How can we disrupt these flows? How else are 
these raw materials getting across our Nation? What can we do 
to support DEA as they work to disrupt the cartels responsible 
for this criminal activity? What can we do to educate young 
people on the dangers of buying any drug on a social media 
platform? What responsibility do social media companies have in 
helping safe lives?
    We have a real problem, America, and it does nothing for 
our constituents if we revert to the kind of politics that is 
pretending to care about a problem but really thinking about 
who we can pin the blame on in the next election.
    I have the privilege of representing Minnesota's Second 
Congressional District. My constituents are some of the most 
engaged and compassionate and resilient people in this Nation. 
Devin Norring was one of them. He was an honors student at 
Hastings High School who loved playing football, making music, 
and skateboarding. He was an adventurer, and he took every 
chance he could to enjoy life. He loved his family. He was a 
protector to his siblings, and he would give a stranger the 
shirt off his back.
    I never got to know Devin. What I know comes from his 
parents and, sadly, his obituary, because on April 4th, 2020, 
Devin died in his sleep as a result of a fentanyl overdose. 
Seeking relief from blackout migraines and dental pain, Devin 
had bought what he thought was a Percocet pill from a drug 
dealer on Snapchat. That pill turned out to be 100 percent 
fentanyl. He was 19 years old.
    You know, sometimes we get lost in these numbers, but we 
need to keep in mind that the real cost is a human cost. Devin 
didn't want to die. Devin was killed. He had a full life ahead 
of him,and it was cut short.
    In November of last year, I was on a ride-along with the 
Shakopee Police Department. The first call of that night, a 
young man was brought back to life by Narcan on the floor of a 
family restaurant. It's just another night for law enforcement 
in my community, but addiction, mental illness, and other 
challenges have stretched us all thin, and especially them.
    I came face-to-face with the intersection of mental 
illness, addiction, and crime late last week. There are no easy 
answers. If there were, we wouldn't be still sitting here 
talking about it, and people wouldn't be dying. But the reality 
is that this is a complex problem that requires bipartisan 
solutions, and political theater and grandstanding and ignoring 
the facts gets us nowhere.
    We absolutely need to permanently schedule fentanyl-related 
substances as a class I drug, but FRS has been emergency 
scheduled since 2018, and fentanyl overdoses have only 
increased. That tells me that permanent scheduling alone is not 
enough. We must continue to invest in resources for those who 
are suffering from substance use disorder, bolster mental 
health, and stem the flow of fentanyl coming across the United 
States border through legal ports of entry as well as through 
other illicit means.
    We also must address the common avenues of distributions to 
social media and make sure that parents are taught the signs, 
that young people understand you cannot take anything bought on 
a social media platform. We need our law enforcement officers 
in our Nation's schools making sure that they know that.
    You know, my colleagues, you titled this hearing ``Biden's 
Border Crisis.'' Even the title of the hearing is political. I 
hope our actions today are aimed at finding real policy 
solutions, not just scoring political points.
    Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman, because that's exactly 
what I intend to do, is find real solutions. And I yield back.
    Mr. Griffith. I thank the gentlelady.
    We now conclude with Members' opening statements. The Chair 
would like to remind Members that, pursuant to the committee 
rules, all Members' opening statements will be made a part of 
the record.
    I want to thank our witnesses for being here today and 
taking the time to testify before the subcommittees.
    Each witness will have the opportunity to give an opening 
statement followed by a round of questions from Members.
    Our witnesses today are Mr. Urbino Martinez, Brooks County 
Sheriff; Mr. Stuart Archer, CEO, Oceans Healthcare; Ms. 
Rochelle Garza, president, Texas Civil Rights Project; and Mr. 
Brandon Judd, a current 25-year veteran Border Patrol agent and 
current president of the National Border Patrol Council.
    We appreciate all the witnesses being here with us today, 
taking your time out to share with us and the Nation.
    We will now swear in the various Members. As you know, the 
testimony--the various witnesses. As you know, the testimony 
you're about to give is subject to Title 18, Section 1001, of 
the United States Code. When holding an investigative hearing, 
this committee has the practice of taking testimony under oath.
    Do any of you have any objection to taking testimony under 
oath--or, to testifying under oath?
    Seeing no objections, we will move forward.
    The Chair also advises you that, under the rules of the 
House and the rules of the committee, you're entitled to be 
advised by counsel.
    Do any of you desire to be advised by counsel during your 
testimony today?
    All right. And I see all saying that they do not require 
that.
    In that case, if the witnesses will please rise and raise 
your right hand.
    [Witnesses sworn.]
    I now recognize Mr. Urbino Martinez for 5 minutes to give 
his opening statement.

 STATEMENTS OF URBINO MARTINEZ, BROOKS COUNTY SHERIFF; STUART 
     ARCHER, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, OCEANS 
 HEALTHCARE; ROCHELLE M. GARZA, PRESIDENT, TEXAS CIVIL RIGHTS 
 PROJECT; AND BRANDON JUDD, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL BORDER PATROL 
                            COUNCIL

                  STATEMENT OF URBINO MARTINEZ

    Mr. Martinez. Good afternoon, Chairman--Ranking--Chairman 
Griffith, Chairwoman Rodgers, ranking members, subcommittee 
members. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before this 
committee to discuss this important issue.
    There are three issues that I face in Brooks County. It's a 
national security issue, a public health issue, and a 
humanitarian issue.
    My name is Benny. I work for the Brooks County Sheriff's 
Office. I have just started my 44th year in law enforcement. I 
have a command staff and 5 deputies are responsible for 943 
square miles of Brooks County, which is actually just an hour 
north of here. The ranchlands, they're privately owned 
ranchlands. The population of that is about 7,400, population 
of Brooks County.
    Brooks County is one of the largest--has one of the largest 
checkpoints in the Nation, known as the Falfurrias checkpoint, 
approximately 70 miles north of the U.S.-Mexican border and 
281. It is a major north/south artery from the Rio Grande 
Valley area that leads to Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, 
and other destinations throughout the interior of the United 
States.
    U.S. Highway 281 is part of the Gulf Coast corridor, which 
is one of the most active drugs, human smuggling corridors in 
the United States. The Falfurrias checkpoint is one of the 
busiest checkpoints in the southwest corridor in regards to 
undocumented crossers, apprehensions, and narcotic seizures. 
Because of Brooks County's geographical location and Falfurrias 
checkpoint, it has very unique challenges. In most cases, the 
smugglers and coyotes drop off undocumented crossers. They are 
led by smugglers and made to walk east to west of United States 
Highway 281 to circumvent the checkpoint, moving through north 
private ranchlands, then to get picked up on Texas 285 and 
other roads by other smugglers who will then transport them to 
the Gulf Coast corridor to cities north, usually Houston, 
Texas.
    In other cases, local gang members and others seeking 
financial gain who live in the county drive their human and 
drug loads through private ranchlands property by cutting 
locks, fences, causing untold private property damage. The sad 
reality is that many of those who are being led through the 
brush by the smugglers do not survive the demanding journey.
    Since 2009, Brooks County has recovered 929 bodies of 
undocumented crossers, to include 119 in 2021 and 90 in 2022--
over 200 in 24 months. We estimate that we recover less than 
half of all those who perish. Since 2009, the costs to the 
county of dealing with these who have perished have totaled 
almost a million dollars.
    In addition, Brooks County emergency services are greatly 
impacted. Ambulances are being pulled from day-to-day 
operations to answer calls to remote areas where turnaround 
time is roughly 4 to 5 hours, leaving our constituents without 
emergency medical services. This has put a strain on the local 
health system.
    Last year, there were 115 EMS calls for the undocumented 
and 3 deaths en route to the hospitals. Fire related to 
immigration in Brooks County consists of 36,208 burned acres, 
which cost the county 75,000 to our fire department in fuel, 
breakdowns, equipment, and related costs. The cost to only 1 of 
the area's heli-flight services was approximately 320,000, and 
only 45,000 of that was reimbursed. Two area hospitals used for 
undocumented services wrote off thousands of dollars for direct 
cost of unpaid services, further burdening small rural 
hospitals.
    The Falfurrias checkpoint reported that, in 2022, there was 
a hundred percent increase in firearm seizures from 2021, a 400 
percent increase in checkpoint vehicle circumventions, 150 
percent increase in cocaine, 1,743 percent increase in meth, 
175 percent increase in gang members, 67 percent increase of 
sexual offenders, and a 222 increase in alien smuggling cases. 
I have to advise also that we do have a high number of sexual 
assault cases that occur on these females that are crossing 
with the males through the ranches.
    On the national level, in 2022, there were 2.2 million 
encounters from 171 different countries. In the current year of 
2023, there has been 775,000 encounters with 3,000 of those 
having seriously criminal history with national security and 
public safety concerns. There have been 1.2 million getaways 
reported, and these are people that we'll never know who they 
are or what they carry, et cetera. We have no idea if they are 
cartel, other criminals, or terrorists because the Federal 
Government has failed to enforce border security efforts. 
Borderer Patrol has been taken up processing the majority of 
migrants giving themselves up at the border.
    From March through October of 2022, Brooks County is part 
of the Texas Operation Lone Star Coalition, of which Brooks 
County is part of--OK--has reported 322 smuggling pursuits, 204 
bailouts, recovered 181 stolen vehicles, seized 31 firearms, 
seized over half a million dollars in bulk cash going to 
Mexico, recorded 286,000 of property damage, and have charged 
179 people for engaging in organized crime activity.
    In the last----
    Mr. Griffith. Sheriff, if you could wrap up.
    Mr. Martinez. Oh, sorry. OK.
    The funding--we had two Aerostats, and those Aerostats were 
removed because they actually just shift those monies over to 
something else. So--OK. The border crisis is a result of not 
securing the border. Where there are no consequences for 
unlawful entry of the United States and DHS does not adjudicate 
asylum cases in a timely manner and removing those that don't 
have valid claims, transnational gang organizations will 
continue to be able to recruit migrants to come up here and 
overwhelm the Border Patrol rescues.
    With that, I close. Thank you.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Martinez follows:]
    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    Mr. Griffith. I thank the gentleman.
    I now recognize Mr. Archer for his 5 minutes of opening 
statement.

                   STATEMENT OF STUART ARCHER

    Mr. Archer. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you to the 
Health Subcommittee and Oversight and Investigations 
Subcommittee for holding this hearing today.
    My name is Stuart Archer. I'm the president and CEO of 
Oceans Healthcare, a system of behavioral health facilities 
located throughout Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma.
    Oceans Healthcare prides itself on six core convictions: 
dignity, comprehensive care, quality, integrity, advocacy, and 
teamwork. These values are the foundation of our company and 
what drives our employees to provide the highest quality of 
care.
    Oceans Healthcare was founded in 2004, specifically to meet 
the behavorial health needs of the underserved, including our 
specialized programs for our Nation's military and first 
responders. Headquartered in Plano, Texas, Oceans Healthcare 
has 33 locations, 23 hospitals, and employs over 2,000 
caregivers and serves over 24,000 patients a year. Our 
centralized support model provides Oceans' hospitals and care 
teams with the operational resources and expertise they need so 
they can focus on what they do best: providing high-quality, 
compassionate behavioral health to patients and families. 
Furthermore, this model has given us the ability to further 
expand into rural and underserved areas. In fact, Oceans often 
stands as the only behavioral health provider in the 
communities we serve, providing access to quality behavioral 
health to those who might not have it otherwise.
    At today's hearing, I look forward to discussing access to 
behavioral health resources in our Nation's border States. 
Oceans Healthcare has 18 facilities throughout the State of 
Texas and is certainly no stranger to the struggles that care 
providers in Texas have been facing.
    You know, safety and compassion, we believe, are not 
mutually exclusive. Our hospitals have a duty to provide 
quality behavioral healthcare to our communities, but this has 
been challenging because the resources are so limited. 
Healthcare providers have a moral obligation to care for those 
in need, including those coming across our border, but this 
presents a challenge when we don't have sufficient staff, 
resources, or are treated in a way that behavioral health 
providers are treated many times.
    Oceans is experiencing the same challenges as other 
hospitals across the State of Texas. In particular, finding 
clinicians has been extremely challenging for some time, and 
this challenge has only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 
pandemic and further escalated by the border crisis.
    To say it's challenging to incentivize behavioral health 
professionals to work in rural and underserved areas is an 
understatement. These behavioral health professionals know that 
when they choose a role in behavioral health, they often find 
that their pay is far greater in urban areas. And many times, 
instead of selecting the specialty of behavioral health 
altogether, these healthcare professionals can make 
significantly more by simply choosing a different healthcare 
specialty.
    Oceans Healthcare is working hard to provide care in areas 
that might not otherwise have access, yet we are facing 
challenges due to a lack of parity within reimbursement. Not 
only is there competition between various hospitals and 
specialties, but there's also competition within our border 
States, as hospitals must also compete with the Federal 
Government to staff border facilities.
    Furthermore, it's been my experience that our law 
enforcement and first responders have been particularly 
impacted by the mental health and substance abuse issues 
they're confronted with daily in their jobs. Instead of 
allowing our law enforcement to do what they do best, we have 
instead depended on them to also serve as healthcare providers 
and mental health specialists. We have to work on increasing 
partnerships with local law enforcement. And I'm proud to say 
that all of our hospitals partner with local law enforcement to 
work with their mental health deputies.
    Finally, taking a broader approach to understanding why our 
behavioral health resources are so scarce and finding ways in 
which to improve access, we must understand that many of our 
Federal laws and policies surrounding behavioral health are 
antiquated. And while parity is a laudable goal, this crisis 
has made the inequities in behavioral health all more evident. 
For example, we must follow the precedent many States are 
setting by implementing innovation waivers and phasing out the 
Institutes for Mental Health disease exclusion to provide 
greater access to the populations needing impatient behavioral 
healthcare.
    I'm honored to have this opportunity to testify in front of 
this committee and hope to offer an important voice 
specifically to those working to improve our Nation's mental 
health. I also would like to thank this committee for its work 
in passing the Restoring Hope for Mental Health and Well-Being 
Act last Congress.
    Between the COVID-19 pandemic, our border crisis, and a 
mental healthcare crisis, strain on our Nation's public health 
resources has been building. It is the duty to assess the 
effectiveness of our current policies and work together to find 
ways to make improvements that will expand access and to ensure 
those who need care can receive it.
    Thank you for this opportunity.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Archer follows:]
    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    Mr. Griffith. Thank you.
    I now recognize Ms. Garza for her 5 minutes for an opening 
statement.

                 STATEMENT OF ROCHELLE M. GARZA

    Ms. Garza. Thank you very much.
    Good evening. My name is Rochelle Garza, and I am the 
president of the Texas Civil Rights Project. I'm also a mother 
to a 10-month-old daughter, a fifth-generation Tejana, and a 
civil rights attorney from Brownsville right here in the Rio 
Grande Valley.
    My goal in providing this testimony is twofold. First, to 
dispel misconceptions about two separate issues: the public 
health crisis related to fentanyl and the humanitarian crisis 
at the border. Second, I want to share how the current approach 
of heavyhanded policies that prioritize military force as the 
only solution have not and will not address either crisis.
    The families at our doorstep are seeking safety and refuge. 
They have fled persecution, war, famine, climate disasters, and 
other horrors. They are not the source of fentanyl entering 
this country. I know this is contrary to what you've been told. 
Our Governor, Greg Abbott, has done all he can to lay blame on 
vulnerable people, including women and children, that are 
requesting asylum.
    The fentanyl crisis is a very real public health crisis, 
and it has claimed the lives of over 107,000 Americans last 
year and has been felt across our country. Lives are being 
lost, and we need evidence-based public health solutions to 
address the problem of opioid addiction.
    Unfortunately, our Governor is wrong about how fentanyl 
enters the United States. The vast majority of fentanyl seized 
at the border is intercepted at either U.S. ports of entry or 
through U.S. mail, with most smugglers being U.S. citizens. The 
facts do not lie. The overwhelming majority of migrants who 
have crossed into the United States do not attempt to smuggle 
drugs in their crossing.
    Despite this, we have dedicated unprecedented amounts of 
money to prosecute migrants. We must call out the attempt to 
conflate fentanyl with migrants for what it is. It is a cheap 
political trick to use public health crisis as a justification 
to waste public resources on the same ineffective border 
policies that simply do not work and have harmed communities 
just like mine.
    Requesting asylum is a right guaranteed by U.S. law. Border 
communities have seen an unprecedented amount of people fleeing 
desperate situations in their home countries to seek asylum. 
The lack of humanitarian solutions to address this increased 
need has led to a humanitarian crisis. People are in desperate 
need of aid. People need shelter, food, medicine. These are all 
needs that cannot be met with a military response.
    In less than 2 years, Governor Abbott's Operation Lone 
Star, or OLS, has spent over 4.4 billion in Texas taxpayer 
dollars. As a result, border communities have been flooded with 
additional law enforcement, military-style weapons, and even 
right-wing nationalist militia groups, which has led to serious 
consequences for residents.
    For example, Gage Brown, a resident of Bracketville, told 
us that high-speed chases have become the norm in her sleepy 
town. After law enforcement crashed into a building off the 
main street, the local school put boulders around the perimeter 
of the campus for safety.
    Local residents are also getting ticketed and stopped more 
often, bringing surges of stops, searches, and ticketing of 
Latino drivers, which the rest of the State does not 
experience. In Kinney County alone, the rate of ticketing has 
gone up by over 400 percent, which translates to roughly $2 
million of additional fines.
    Then there are those who have been locked up under OLS who 
have experienced mass violations of civil and due process 
rights. In extreme cases, we are aware of sexual and physical 
violence against those in overcrowded facilities.
    None of what I just described addressed either the 
humanitarian needs at the border or the fentanyl public health 
crisis.
    Aggressive enforcement policies along the border are 
harmful, ineffective, and will not end the mass migration. We 
must change course. What we're asking for is simple: 
accountability for the failed policies that have led us to this 
point, relief for the humanitarian needs at the border, and 
real solutions that are going to move us forward.
    We're at a point where for almost 2 years now, our Governor 
has been operating an illegal State-based immigration 
enforcement scheme, contrary to Supreme Court precedent. And in 
response, we have submitted complaint after complaint with 
stacks of evidence to the Department of Justice to highlight 
OLS' illegality, including mass civil and human rights abuses. 
And unfortunately, Texas is expanding, not ending, its efforts.
    Congress can and must hold Texas to account. Texans at the 
border have been left to muster a humanitarian response largely 
without Government aid. Our friends and neighbors have 
fundraised for shelter, cooked warm meals, listened to those 
who've endured severe trauma, or provided legal orientation. 
These border-led relief efforts treat immigrants with dignity. 
They enhance public safety, and they save lives.
    We need to turn toward real solutions that are going to 
move us forward. By focusing on strategies that advocates on 
the ground have been leading, we can find real meaningful 
solutions that benefit all of us.
    And I am happy to answer questions. Thank you.
    [The prepared statement of Ms. Garza follows:]
    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    Mr. Griffith. I thank the lady.
    And we'll now recognize Mr. Judd for his 5 minutes of--for 
an opening statement.

                   STATEMENT OF BRANDON JUDD

    Mr. Judd. Chairman Griffith, Chairwoman Rodgers, 
distinguished members of this committee, I would like to thank 
you for inviting me to testify before you today in order to 
communicate how the executive actions taken by President Biden 
and his administration have directly resulted in an increase in 
illicit fentanyl coming across our southern border with Mexico 
and into our communities in all 50 States.
    Since he took office in January of 2021, the policies 
enacted by President Biden have directly resulted in the least 
secure border in my 25-year career. Due to the Biden 
administration's border and immigration policies, we have seen 
historically high numbers of people crossing the border 
illegally, forcing more than 50 percent of patrol resources to 
be dedicated to administrative duties such as, but not limited 
to, processing, transport, hospital watch, and detention 
security.
    The dedication of such a high percentage of resources to 
duties other than actively patrolling the border allows cartels 
to create gaps in our coverage, facilitating the highest number 
of known gotaways in our history. In a short 2 years, there has 
been a minimum of 1.2 million gotaways. These gotaways are 
individuals doing everything in their power to avoid detection 
and apprehension. We do not know who they are. We do not know 
where they came from. We do not know what they're bringing 
across the border, and we do not know what their intentions are 
here in the United States. What we do know is that these 
individuals pose a significant threat to public safety, public 
health, and national security.
    Each and every day along the entirety of the southwest 
border, criminal cartels dictate when and where illegal border 
crossers enter our country. The cartels have figured out the 
loopholes in our laws, and they know that our agents are forced 
to process--and they know when our agents are forced to process 
huge numbers of illegal border crossers, we are unable to 
properly patrol the border. When agents are unable to patrol, 
huge gaps are created in our first line of defense, and that's 
when the cartels can run the people and things they don't want 
us to catch because they know they will get away.
    Under our current border security policies, criminal 
cartels have become incredibly successful at bringing their 
high-value products into our country illegally. And these 
circumstances have contributed to a huge increase in the flow 
of hard narcotics making their way into the U.S. and wreaking 
havoc on our communities.
    According to a Washington Post report, more than 107,000 
people died from a drug overdose in 2021, and fentanyl was 
responsible for two-thirds of those deaths. The amount of 
illicit fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, pouring into our country 
across our southern border is staggering and, frankly, 
terrifying, knowing that just 2 milligrams is considered a 
lethal dose.
    According to publicly available data from Customs and 
Border Protection, the Border Patrol alone seized 949 pounds of 
fentanyl along the southwest border from February 2021 through 
January 2022. CBP just recently released narcotic seizure data 
for President Biden's second full year in office, February 2022 
through January 2023, and the amount of illicit fentanyl seized 
by just the Border Patrol has more than doubled to 2,294 
pounds.
    To give some perspective on those statistics, 2,294 pounds 
of fentanyl converts to over 1 billion milligrams, enough to 
kill over 500 million people.
    In September of 2021, 8 months after President Biden's open 
border policies went into effect, the Drug Enforcement 
Administration issued a public safety alert warning of the 
sharp increase in fake prescription pills containing fentanyl 
and meth. President Biden's DEA Sdministrator appointee, Anne 
Milgram, stated in the alert that the United States is facing 
an unprecedented crisis of overdose deaths fueled by illegally 
manufactured fentanyl.
    The alert goes on to state, ``The vast majority of 
counterfeit pills brought into the United States are produced 
in Mexico, and China is supplying chemicals for the 
manufacturing of fentanyl in Mexico.''
    The DEA's ``Facts about Fentanyl'' web page further states, 
``Illicit fentanyl primarily manufactured in foreign 
clandestine labs and smuggled into the United States through 
Mexico is being distributed across the country and sold on the 
illegal drug market.''
    This reality--the reality is this: President Biden has made 
the securing of our border impossible. Instead, his policies 
have allowed criminal cartels to advertise their services 
throughout the world with the promise that illegal border 
crossers will be allowed to remain in the United States without 
fear of deportation.
    Until we end catch-and-release, which would allow our 
agents to actually do their jobs and patrol in the field, we 
will never come close to achieving a secure border. And without 
a secure border, illicit fentanyl will continue to flow into 
the U.S., devastating families in every single corner of our 
great Nation.
    We are, in my opinion, the greatest Nation in the world. We 
are the most compassionate Nation in the world. On average, we 
take in more refugees and more legal immigration than any other 
country. This is compassion, and this is who we want to be. 
Unfortunately, we're not talking about legal immigration. We're 
discussing illegal immigration and how that fuels the fentanyl 
crisis here in the United States.
    I appreciate this time to testify, and I look forward to 
any of your questions. Thank you, sir.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Judd follows:]
    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    Mr. Griffith. I thank the gentleman.
    I thank you all for your testimony. We will now move into 
the question-and-answer portion of the hearing. I'll begin the 
questioning and recognize myself for 5 minutes.
    Mr. Judd, fentanyl and fentanyl analogs are produced using 
precursor chemicals, and most of these precursors come from 
China, you just testified, that are shipped to Mexican cartels 
who then produce fentanyl and its analogs.
    Do the cartels in Mexico have the capability to produce 
these precursors themselves?
    Mr. Judd. They do, but it's much cheaper to get them 
through China. The cartels are all about generating a profit, 
and they're going to do the things that are cheapest--in the 
manner that's the most cheapest. The problem is, is once China 
has its hooks into anything that's illegal, they will stay, and 
that's scary.
    Mr. Griffith. All right. To your knowledge, are other 
countries supplying precursors for fentanyl or its analogs?
    Mr. Judd. No. Only China.
    Mr. Griffith. Only China. Now, isn't it also accurate to 
say that before we did the temporary scheduling of the analogs, 
that they were looking at--cartels were looking at ways to 
change the formula so that it wouldn't be illegal to cross the 
border or even to distribute in the United States?
    Mr. Judd. Yes. So what they were looking at is they were 
looking at how could they mask the fentanyl, because again, if 
we have drug dogs, they can detect the precursors. And if you 
can mask that, then it becomes a lot easier to get the products 
across the border.
    Mr. Griffith. And haven't we seen--since the temporary 
scheduling of fentanyl analogs, haven't we seen that they just 
stuck with the basic fentanyl instead of trying to come up with 
cute ways to get around it? I shouldn't say cute because it's a 
poison. I couldn't help but think of that when we heard 
testimony earlier about Devin, that he thought he was getting a 
Percocet. That's not an overdose, as Mr. Carter often points 
out to us. That is a poisoning.
    All right. Let's talk about the ports of entry. One of the 
things that we heard today in some discussions down on the 
border was that it is true more fentanyl and other drugs are 
captured at the ports of entry, but that what's happening is, 
is that the cartels are using the migrants that they're 
bringing across, the illegal aliens or immigrants that they're 
bringing across the border, to distract the Border Patrol, so 
that if you've got 100 people over here or 50 people over 
there, then that creates gaps where we don't have walls and 
where we don't have Border Patrol agents, that they can then 
run whatever in through that area?
    Mr. Judd. I'm not aware of any intel report that says 97 
percent of the drugs that cross into the United States come 
through ports of entry. It stands to reason that more seizures 
are going to take place at ports of entry. Those are secure 
locations.
    CBP can schedule how many vehicles are going to come 
through a port of entry at any given time, and with the 
resources, you can go through more of those vehicles.
    So, again, at a secure location, it stands to reason that 
you're going to seize more drugs.
    Between the ports of entry, if people are able to evade 
apprehension, we have no idea what they're bringing in. What we 
do know, however, is that we are constantly seizing backpacks 
filled with fentanyl.
    In fact, it is my understanding that today in Yuma, 
Arizona, a person that crossed the border illegally had a 
backpack that contained 90 pounds of illegal drugs, including 
fentanyl.
    Two nights ago, a Border Patrol canine handler apprehended 
smugglers coming between the ports of entry that was carrying 
fentanyl, meth, and cocaine. This happens on a regular basis. 
But if we can't detect it or apprehend it, how do we know where 
it came across?
    We also know that in 2021, the ports of entry were largely 
shut down except to essential traffic, and during that time 
they had a lot more resources to go through all vehicles, yet 
seizures dropped exponentially. But the amount of drugs on the 
streets were more than any police agency had ever seen before.
    It did not just magically appear on the streets. It comes 
between the ports of entry just like it does at the ports of 
entry.
    Mr. Griffith. And isn't it also true that, even if they're 
American citizens who are transporting these goods, they're 
working for the Mexican cartels?
    Mr. Judd. Yes. I have yet to apprehend somebody 
transporting drugs into the United States that was a United 
States citizen. Every single person that I have seen 
apprehended between the ports of entry have been persons that 
entered the country illegally and are not United States 
citizens.
    Mr. Griffith. All right. Sheriff Martinez, you testified 
about transnational criminal organizations being able to 
continue to recruit migrants to come up here and overwhelm the 
Border Patrol resources while they run narcotics and criminals 
around the back.
    Are we getting any help from our friends in the Mexican 
Government to try to put a stop to this?
    Mr. Martinez. No, sir, that's the major problem we're 
having, getting the Mexican Government to step up their 
enforcement actions on their end.
    Mr. Griffith. All right. I appreciate that. Thank you all 
for being here this evening, and I look forward to hearing the 
rest of your answers. I now yield back and recognize Mr. 
Cardenas for his 5 minutes of questioning.
    Mr. Cardenas. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
    Wow. Very distinct perspectives coming from the different 
witnesses that we have here today. But one of the things that I 
want to make sure that I point out, this is an official hearing 
of the United States Congress Energy and Commerce Committee to 
talk about issues that are facing us as a Nation, literally 
happening today.
    And on my way over here today, I remembered what I was 
taught as a child and how the information that I believed for 
too many years of my life, because I trusted the sources, were 
actually wrong.
    I was told that the reason why the buffalo almost became 
extinct across this great Nation was because people wanted them 
for their pelts.
    Well, they did want them for their pelts, but really what 
was going on at the root of that was, they said, how can we get 
rid of Native Americans and starve them out? Well, let's take 
the thing that they need the most--the buffalo. They use them 
for food, for clothing, for shelter, et cetera, and that was a 
way to starve them out.
    So I believe that when you step back and look at history 
and you actually get an honest perspective of what happened, 
then you really understand why the buffalo almost became 
extinct and also was part of a genocide process against people 
who lived in these lands far longer than most of us and our 
relatives lived.
    I mention that in the context of, like I said earlier, 
different perspectives talking about the same issues. When it 
comes to fentanyl, when it comes to opioid addictions, when it 
comes to the crisis that we have in the United States of 
America, one of the things we speak very little about in this 
committee, or in Congress, is how some American individuals and 
American companies have actually contributed far more to this 
crisis than perhaps people with backpacks crossing our border.
    For example, when you look at the Sackler family, they were 
punished a bit, but when you really look at the truth is, they 
got away with creating a crisis that came to 10,000 or more 
deaths a year. Now, we're looking at the latest numbers at a 
hundred thousand or more in our great Nation.
    These are the kinds of things that I'm hoping this 
committee will do, is to make sure that we get an honest 
perspective on the record about what the real issues are and 
the real ways in which we can actually create solutions to make 
sure that we improve the lives and the conditions and the 
safety of the American citizen and in every community across 
our country.
    One of the things that I wanted to ask you, Ms. Garza, is, 
when it comes to using punitive responses to the opioid crisis 
that we have in our country, the fentanyl crisis, is being 
punitive the answer, or are there other solutions?
    Ms. Garza. We need to have an holistic approach. Look, the 
opioid crisis is very real. We need to approach it as a public 
health issue, because it is. And so we need to provide 
treatments to people that are addicted. And once we do that, 
once we address that root issue, we're going to stop the demand 
for these drugs.
    And we'll prevent deaths. I mean, people are losing their 
families, their parents, their children, and we need to take 
that as a real thing and separate it from what we're doing here 
today. This is--this is--I don't understand why we're here at 
the border, because there is really no connection between what 
is happening with the opioid crisis in this country and 
immigrants that are just seeking refuge in our country, that 
are seeking protection.
    Mr. Cardenas. Yes, thank you. And many people who come to 
our border, Ms. Garza, that you're familiar with, are they 
seeking asylum?
    Ms. Garza. The vast majority of people that I have 
encountered--and I started off as an immigration attorney, I'm 
a border Native, I have been here for years, I have been here 
through several administrations practicing immigration law, 
I've represented hundreds of children and families--the vast 
majority of people that are coming here are fleeing very 
horrific experiences in their home country, and if we want to 
address migration, if we want to stem the flow of migration, we 
need to build up the rule of law in foreign countries.
    We need to ensure that we are protecting people in their 
home countries and ensuring they feel they can stay in their 
home country and not go on this perilous journey into the 
United States.
    Mr. Cardenas. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Garza. My time 
having expired, I yield back, Mr. Chairman.
    Mr. Griffith. I thank the gentleman. I now recognize Dr. 
Burgess for his 5 minutes of questioning.
    Mr. Burgess. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    And, Sheriff, let me just ask you something because earlier 
this afternoon we were at the Central Processing Facility down 
on Ursula Avenue, and the deputy chief patrol agent showed us a 
graphic of where the location of the remains of people who had 
perished coming across, presumably illegally, and sure enough, 
there were a number of dots along the border, along the river.
    But it was startling how many dots there were up north 
toward Falfurrias in your area. Can you help us understand 
what's going on there?
    Mr. Martinez. Yes, sir. What's happening, they're coming 
across between the port of entries. They're being held at stash 
houses which they're not being fed, there's no water, they're 
provided nothing for their health issue. OK?
    Then they're traveled up to--up to maybe a mile south of 
the checkpoint, get dropped off, and they're walking through. 
They get injured, they get hurt, whatever the case may be. 
Maybe they get intercepted by law enforcement. They all run 
different directions. The only one that knows which direction 
to go is going to be the coyote, the smuggler.
    So at the end of the day, if they don't get the assistance 
they need, they're going to die. And it's a slow death. But I 
might say, though, we have over--close to 2,000 placards in 
Brooks County alone. We have maybe three or four beacons in 
Brooks County alone, but they're told not to utilize that by 
the smuggler, OK?
    Mr. Burgess. Well----
    Mr. Martinez. I think I'm the only sheriff with a morgue in 
the county, and I'm holding bodies for Zavala County because 
they don't have a place to hold them. So I think it's--it's 
important to understand the fact that they're getting smuggled, 
and they have to pay to get smuggled, and they shouldn't.
    Mr. Burgess. Yes, sir. And it's hardly compassionate----
    Mr. Martinez. Yes, sir.
    Mr. Burgess [continuing]. Is the bottom line.
    Mr. Archer, let me ask you, you and I have both referenced 
the Institute for Mental Disease exclusion. When, 
interestingly, we had Secretary Becerra in front of our 
committee last Congress, and I asked him a question about that, 
he actually spoke favorably about perhaps revisiting that.
    In your opinion, would that be helpful with some of the 
problems that you're facing?
    Mr. Archer. Yes, sir, it would. We--at Oceans today, in 
over half the hospitals we're in, in over half the hospitals in 
Texas, we're the only behavioral health hospital for, 
sometimes, a hundred miles.
    And because of a rule that's almost 50 years old on the 
books, we can't accept Medicaid patients, patients that we're 
willing to accept, that we have a contract with. And, you know, 
unfortunately, the behavioral health Federal laws are riddled 
with old rules. They point to State hospitals that either 
haven't existed or have lost beds tremendously over the last 20 
years, and so we've got willing providers, willing to take 
patients, and accept their rates, and we simply can't because 
of some of these antiquated rules.
    Mr. Burgess. Let me ask you this: What are you doing--we 
all hear about the workforce issues, and every hospital that I 
represent will tell me about that--what are you doing to 
incentivize providers to stay at your facilities?
    Mr. Archer. You know, what I would say is all of the above, 
you know, whatever it takes these days. It's the number-one 
stressor for us in hospitals and I'm sure in healthcare and in 
many industries. You know, the problem is, and the deep-seated 
problem in behavioral health is, you know, it's now fashionable 
to say good things about behavioral health, but from a parity 
perspective and from a payment perspective, a psychiatrist, a 
therapist knows that they're going to make 20 to 30 percent 
less than their peers.
    So institutionally we've got a lot of work to do to value 
the work that they do when they come out of school. One of the 
most, I think, things that scares me the most is, you look at 
new graduates, you look at new psychiatrists, you look at new 
therapists, I'm sure many of you may have had a family member 
or loved one you know try to find one that will take an 
insurance, try to find somebody that will take your insurance 
in network.
    And the problem is, is that the barriers for behavioral 
health providers have been stacked so high that a lot of folks 
have just tapped out and said, ``Hey, we're just going to opt 
out of taking insurance.''
    And so, from a workforce perspective, we are doing 
everything we can to attract and retain the best and brightest, 
and part of that is inviting folks in earlier in their career, 
to understand what an engaging career in behavioral health is 
and how rewarding it can be.
    Mr. Burgess. You're right, we don't value it, and then as a 
consequence it becomes a cash-only business. And certainly 
Medicare and Medicaid, extremely hard to find a provider who 
will accept that.
    Let me just ask you, Mr. Judd, in the few seconds that I 
have remaining, we've heard a lot about the influence of social 
media, Snapchat, on the sale of fentanyl, but TikTok also plays 
a role in illegal immigration, does it not?
    Mr. Judd. It does. It does. All social media platforms 
plays a role in illegal immigration. That's one of the ways the 
cartels advertise their services throughout the world and 
convince people to put themselves in their hands to come to the 
United States. The cartels use all social media platforms.
    Mr. Burgess. Well, we're going to have a hearing with 
TikTok later, maybe we can bring that up to them. Thank you, 
and I yield back.
    Mr. Griffith. The gentleman yields back. I now recognize 
Ms. Craig for her 5 minutes of questions.
    Ms. Craig. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. I want to start 
with Ms. Garza. Even though fentanyl-related substances have 
been scheduled as a class I drug on a temporary basis--which by 
the way I agree with--since 2018, cases of fentanyl overdoses 
and deaths have continued to rise.
    For Ms. Garza, and perhaps Mr. Archer as well, clearly that 
rescheduling, scheduling at it as a class I one drug, is not 
the silver bullet that some politicians would have us think 
that it is.
    And, of course, it feels a little bit like Groundhog Day 
here in Texas because we've had these conversations on heroin, 
on cocaine, and so many other drugs.
    Do either of you have any input on some of the mistakes 
that Congress might have made in our approach to the opioid 
crisis?
    Ms. Garza. I will go first. You know, I think--I think it's 
very clear that criminalizing this is not going to create a 
solution. We, again, have to have a public health response to a 
public health issue. And providing counseling, which I'm sure 
Mr. Archer can speak more to, providing treatment to 
individuals that are addicted to opioids is the right course. I 
mean, this is what we should be focusing on, is treatment, as a 
public health issue.
    Ms. Craig. Mr. Archer, anything to add to that?
    Mr. Archer. Sure. I mean, look, I would agree. I mean, I 
think that we, from an addiction perspective, and I'm sure some 
of the stories you've heard today, patients with addiction 
carry a lot of shame, and it's--and it's not needed. It 
shouldn't be that way.
    You know, an addiction patient has typically a biological 
and a genetic disposition for this.
    But, you know, I would say this: As also a father of four 
and someone who has been unable to remove social media from my 
daughters' phones, I do worry deeply about these other forces 
that are moving around.
    So I would, you know, I would say, I think both sides of 
this are important, and I would continue, I think this 
committee has done some, I think, very meaningful work around 
medication-assisted treatment, parity, and other areas.
    But I would just say, look, more needs to be done, because 
the education efforts, starting as early as elementary school, 
junior high, and high school, those things have to continue.
    Ms. Craig. Thank you so much.
    Mr. Judd, maybe I misheard you, but I thought you sort of 
took issue with this number of 97 percent coming through our 
legal ports of entry at our Nation's border. I guess I'm just 
stunned because I'm sitting here holding a report--and Mr. 
Chairman, I'm going to ask unanimous consent that this report 
from the Customs and Border Protection be entered into our 
hearing record--I'm just stunned that there is so little 
discussion today, since I'm holding the report that says that 
is the case, and specifically with fentanyl, 97 percent seems 
to be seized at legal ports of entry, that you're not here 
representing your officers, asking for more equipment, more 
resources, more officers, more of anything to detect and seize 
the actual fentanyl that's coming into our country.
    And I realize that doesn't fit the political narrative that 
some people are trying to offer up here today, but that's how 
it's coming into our country, and, yes, it's coming through the 
mail, it's coming through lots of places in other ways.
    And I'm looking here, and, you know, several hundred pounds 
were also found on people who were coming across illegally on 
our border, I understand that, but 97 percent, and we're having 
a conversation here about the 3 percent. That doesn't save a 
damn single life in my congressional district, most likely.
    So I'm just concerned that you don't have that data since 
you represent the officers.
    Mr. Judd. If I misheard you, I apologize, but I thought 
that you said 97 percent comes through the ports of entry. I 
did not hear you say 97 percent is seized at the ports of 
entry. Again, I will point to, ports of entry are secure 
locations. That's what they are. You can schedule traffic to 
come through. CBP can even shut down lanes if they need to, and 
they can go through all of the vehicles.
    Just because that's where it's seized does not mean that 
more is not coming between the ports of entry. And we have seen 
that time and time again. So if you said that 97 percent is 
seized at the ports of entry, I apologize. But I heard you say 
97 percent is coming through the ports of entry.
    Ms. Craig. So let me just ask you this then. We don't know 
how much is really coming through our ports of entry. We just 
know how much is seized there.
    Mr. Judd. Absolutely.
    Ms. Craig. Why aren't you asking for more equipment to 
seize more----
    Mr. Judd. I'll be happy to----
    Ms. Craig [continuing]. That they're trying to get through 
the ports of entry?
    Mr. Judd. I'll be happy to answer that question, because I 
believe that we have the resources today to do the job. That 
has been proven in the past. I do not believe that the taxpayer 
should have to shoulder this burden.
    I believe that, if we had the proper policies, proper 
programs, proper operations, then we could, in fact, secure the 
border, and that has been proven in the past.
    Again, look at 2021. Seizures at the ports of entry were at 
an all-time low. Yet the amount of drugs on the streets were at 
an all-time high. Those drugs did not magically appear.
    Mr. Griffith. The gentlelady's time----
    Ms. Craig. Mr. Chairman, my time is expired.
    Mr. Griffith. Thank you. And the gentlelady yields back. I 
now recognize the chairwoman of the full committee, Cathy 
McMorris Rodgers.
    Mrs. Rodgers. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We're here today to 
look for answers to a border crisis that is driving the flow of 
fentanyl--illicit fentanyl--that is pouring into our 
communities. I'm from Spokane, Washington, near the Canadian 
border, near Idaho, and we are one of 11 cities now DEA has 
listed as crisis cities for fentanyl.
    I want to go back to the discussion right here. So I've 
seen estimates that DEA thinks that they're able to catch about 
5 to 10 percent of the fentanyl that's actually coming in to 
the United States of America.
    So to Mr. Judd and to the sheriff, would you--would you 
speak to how the policy of taking away resources to stop 
fentanyl from being smuggled in, you know, the policies that 
are taking away from border security, to secure the border, and 
how that is impacting your ability to stop the flow of fentanyl 
coming into the United States?
    Mr. Judd. We start any shift with 50 percent of our 
resources outside of patrolling the border. That's 50 percent. 
We can end the shift with as many as 90 percent of our 
resources doing administrative duties rather than patrolling 
the border.
    And any time that you have that, you have a wide-open 
border. In fact, you have sections of the border that are 
completely controlled by criminal cartels when you take that 
many of our resources out of the field.
    And, again, that starts with policy, programs, and 
operations, and if we had those, then we wouldn't be doing 
that, and we could do a much better job of securing the border.
    Mrs. Rodgers. Thank you.
    Sheriff?
    Mr. Martinez. Yes, ma'am. Just in the last 31 days of this 
year, there's been 1,937 Mexican drones flown between the 
United States and Mexico. I say this. Let the Drug Enforcement 
Administration do what they're supposed to. Remove their gloves 
and let them work how they're supposed to, OK? Everything is in 
place. We are just going in circles here. They can do the job. 
CBP can do the job.
    All you got to do is talk to them. If you need a closed 
hearing to do it--but they know what they're doing. Let them 
work.
    Mrs. Rodgers. And we're talking about the number-one killer 
of 18-to-45-year-olds now in the United States of America: 
fentanyl, the number-one killer. Enough fentanyl on Lincoln's 
ear on a penny can kill someone.
    So would you--would you just speak to us about what you 
think needs to happen, from a Federal Government perspective, 
to help secure the border and stop the flow of the fentanyl?
    Mr. Martinez. Yes. We're having this health issue that we 
talk about, this fentanyl and everything. We have to secure the 
border, put those walls back up. I think the walls need to go 
back up. OK? That's important. Because all it is, is a tool. 
That's what the wall is, as you would a radar in a patrol car. 
It's just a tool, OK? Get Border Patrol back to do what they're 
supposed to do, get them on the front line, get them the 
equipment, the technology they need.
    Even though you have technology, you still have to identify 
what you're looking at, OK? I worked for the State police for 
29 years. Eighteen years of that I did narcotics, the service. 
So I know what happens on the back side. I've been part of 
that, OK, so I know what occurs.
    The cartels will do everything they can to get their 
merchandise across, because that's what they do, you know, and 
it's simple. Get Border Patrol back to what it's supposed to 
do, put the walls back up, secure some of that, because all it 
is, is you got to funnel things through.
    This issue about the port of entry, this is what it is. 
That's where you get your metrics, OK? Your metrics is being--
OK, everything is the port of entry. That's just a metric. And 
the reason I'm passionate about this, because I had another 
Representative, a Congressman from California, that questioned 
it.
    And it really annoys me because I know what we have done, 
and I know what the Federal Government has done in operations 
that maybe some of you don't know, and you should know. So it's 
there, it's occurring, it's occurring now.
    Mrs. Rodgers. In December--in December, the Administrator 
for Drug Enforcement Agency was in my office, and she told me 
that they've identified 160,000 plants in China that are 
producing the chemicals that now make their way to Mexico that 
are then used to produce the fentanyl-related substances making 
their way into the United States.
    Would Mr. Judd, perhaps, would you speak to what's going on 
just maybe a few miles or right across the border from here 
within the cartels?
    Mr. Judd. Yes. When you look at the border, there is no 
one-size-fits-all to secure the border. The border has many 
different dynamics.
    If you look at Tucson, Arizona, there is no river. If you 
look at McAllen, Texas, there is a large river. The cartels, 
they use the different terrain features, they use the different 
specific areas. Laredo, Texas, they use a lot of the commercial 
to do their smuggling because they're going to use what is 
available at the time, the resources that they have. And that's 
what we see.
    And that's why we have to--I agree with Ms. Garza--we have 
to have a holistic approach. There's got to be a look at 
everything that we do, but enforcement is absolutely a 
necessary issue in this process. And if we don't have the 
enforcement, then we're going to continue to see the chaos that 
we're currently seeing.
    Mrs. Rodgers. Thanks for what you're doing.
    My time is expired. I yield back.
    Mr. Griffith. The gentlelady yields back. I now recognize 
Mr. Veasey for his 5 minutes of questions.
    Mr. Veasey. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much.
    Ms. Garza, I don't know the Koch brothers. I've never met 
them. I know that a lot of my Republican colleagues around the 
table have met them and dealt with them and been supported by 
them. And because of your work in the nonprofit world, you 
probably are familiar with Cato Institute and know that they 
founded that organization.
    And there is a very interesting report, if you haven't read 
it, that talks about this issue. Ninety-seven percent of ports 
are less likely to be stopped than are people illegally 
crossing between them.
    One of the reasons why we see people going to these ports 
is because they know that they're--that drugs are less likely 
to be searched there. And so it's only logical that these 
people that are bringing fentanyl into this country would go 
through these ports.
    Just 0.2 percent of the people arrested by Border Patrol 
for crossing illegally possess any fentanyl whatsoever. And 
contrary to what Mr. Judd just told us, we know that the 
Government exacerbated the problem by banning most legal, 
cross-border traffic in 2020 and 2021, accelerating the switch 
to fentanyl.
    And that during the travel restrictions, fentanyl seizures 
at ports quadrupled from fiscal year 2019 to 2021. Fentanyl 
went from a third of combined heroin and fentanyl seizures up 
to over 90 percent. And annual deaths from fentanyl doubled 
from 2019 until 2021, after the Government banned most travel 
and asylum. So it's pretty logical and obvious where the drugs 
are coming from.
    And so I want to ask you, how has a militarized border 
affected these communities, especially knowing that the drugs 
aren't coming in through their communities?
    And I just want to say for the record, Mr. Chairman, I've 
been to the border many times, and I've visited McAllen for a 
variety of different reasons over the last 18 years, and this 
is probably one of the safest communities I've ever been in, in 
the entire State of Texas. I'm from Fort Worth.
    Please.
    Ms. Garza. I just--I want to start with the fact that I'm a 
fifth-generation Tejana from Brownsville, Texas, and it is one 
of the safest communities. I'm raising my 10-month-old daughter 
here intentionally. It is not what is depicted in the media. 
This is not a war zone. It is a very safe community. It's a 
very welcoming community.
    And unfortunately we are on the eve of some fiestas that 
are happening in Brownsville, the celebration of the 
relationship between Brownsville and Matamoros that is 
incredibly unique. It's a celebration of the relationship 
between the United States and Mexico, of our intertwined 
economies, of our families, of our culture, of our congress.
    And to have a hearing like this, that isn't focused on the 
needs of border communities, we need infrastructure, we need 
dollars for healthcare. We don't need a militarized zone. We 
have all kinds of enforcement in this region, and it has done 
nothing to stem the flow of drugs.
    Operation Lone Star has spent billions of dollars in this 
region, as I laid out in my testimony, and it has not resulted 
in reductions of deaths that you are seeing in your 
communities, in the interior of the United States. So throwing 
more money into militarizing this region is not going to solve 
the problem.
    We need to address this as a public health issue, and we 
need to treat immigrants that are seeking protection in this 
country humanely. And we need to take care of that part because 
the people in this community are stepping up even though they 
are impoverished. We are still standing up and helping out 
these folks that are coming and looking for protection in our 
country.
    Mr. Veasey. Thank you. In Mr. Judd's opening statement, he 
made a comment that he didn't know exactly why the undocumented 
are coming here, and I would like to remind Mr. Judd and 
everybody sitting around this table, not just him, that the 
reason why they're coming here, and the reason why they are 
here, they're primarily taking jobs that are very hard to fill 
in this country.
    And so all of us should remember that the next time we put 
food on our table, that that food was probably picked or 
harvested or produced by people that were undocumented.
    The next time we put gas--we talk about Texas being the oil 
and gas capital of the world. The next time we put gas in our 
car. And so that's what they're doing. I just wanted to answer 
Mr. Judd's question because he said that he did not know what 
they were doing here, and I'm telling you what they're doing 
here. We're all eating tonight because of them.
    Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
    Mr. Griffith. I thank the gentleman for yielding back. I 
now recognize Mr. Latta for his 5 minutes of questions.
    Mr. Latta. Well, thank you much, Mr. Chairman, and thanks 
for holding this hearing, and thanks to our witnesses for being 
with us tonight. You know, one of the things I think it's 
important to point out is that, you know, in some of the 
hearings that we've had, we're no longer hearing the words that 
we're having an overdose issue in this country, but we have a 
fentanyl poisoning problem in this country.
    And it wasn't very long ago at a roundtable that we 
conducted that a law enforcement officer said that those that 
are lacing narcotics with fentanyl are committing murder.
    So I think it's important to point out that, you know, we 
really have to see that there's a massive change happening in 
this country because, again, it's already been pointed out, but 
I'm going to point it out again, that when you think of the 
107,735 people that lost their lives in this country in 2021 
alone, that over 70,000 of those were because of fentanyl.
    So I think it's really important that the legislation, the 
HALT Fentanyl Act that my friend, the chairman, and I have 
introduced, is so important to get across the finish line 
because, again, it will permanently schedule fentanyl-related 
substances as a Schedule I drug and enable researchers to 
continue to study Schedule I substance for possible medical 
benefits.
    And I think it's also important to point out, again, that 
when the Drug Enforcement Agency's associate administrator for 
business operation, Jon DeLena, was before our committee, he 
stated that the HALT Fentanyl Act is the agency's top priority.
    And, Mr. Judd, if I could start with you, why would Mr. 
DeLena say that the HALT Fentanyl Act would be the agency's top 
priority?
    Mr. Judd. Because the amount of deaths that are occurring 
in the United States. It has to be the top priority if we're 
going to stem off the number of deaths. Again, 107,000 people 
died of overdose deaths in 2021 alone. That number went up, I 
believe it's about the exact same in 2022. We cannot continue 
to sustain that number of deaths in the United States.
    Mr. Latta. Well, thank you, and, you know, again, some of 
us were able to visit the McAllen CBP facility before we came 
here this evening. And let me ask, what trends does CBP have 
identified in illicit drug shipments, and especially when you 
think about the international coordination on fentanyl 
analogues and counterfeit drugs coming in across our borders?
    Mr. Judd. What we have noticed and what has become very, 
very clear is, the cartels want to pull resources out of the 
field. And the way they do that is, they flood specific areas 
with illegal border crossers. When they do that, it requires us 
to deploy those resources to that area, and when they deploy 
those resources, then you have wide gaps that are clearly open.
    And when you look at 1.2 million gotaways, if every single 
one of them, and I'm not saying that every single one of them, 
but if every single one of them was carrying a backpack of 90 
pounds of drugs, that's an awful lot of drugs, and that is the 
scary aspect of this.
    We must be able to detect and apprehend everything that is 
crossing the border between the ports of entry. And once we do 
that, then we can evaluate where resources need to be placed.
    But until we do that, just throwing resources at an issue 
is putting the cart before the horse. That's why we have to 
have the proper policies, programs, and operations. Then we can 
look at what resources are necessary after that.
    Mr. Latta. You know, something else that was brought up 
this afternoon when we were visiting, the question as to 
individuals that in the past might've had some cash on them 
that are now--you're finding folks coming up that have no cash. 
And so the question then is, you know, is the cartel, out of 
the goodness of their heart, allowing these people to go 
through their area to bring them up here for free?
    Mr. Judd. No. Every person and every thing that crosses the 
border illegally goes through the cartels. Whether you're 
paying fees on your way up through Mexico, whether you're 
paying a fee at the border, every single person or every single 
thing that crosses the border illegally, it is in the cartels' 
hands.
    Mr. Latta. Well, and again, I think what you mentioned 
about the distracting of our Border Patrol by the cartel when 
they bring large groups of people up into one area is very, 
very important.
    And also, you know, one of the things, if I could just 
finish up with then, is this, is that, you know, the cartels 
are producing fentanyl-laced pills that cost about 10 cents 
apiece. So that means they're killing Americans for 10 cents. 
And that's something that, you know, we've got to stop, and I 
think this is one of the things that's so important for this 
committee, and why we're here tonight.
    So, Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the opportunity to ask the 
witnesses, and I yield back.
    Mr. Griffith. I thank the gentleman for yielding back. I 
now recognize Mr. Bilirakis for his 5 minutes of questioning.
    Mr. Bilirakis. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I appreciate it. 
Thank you, Madam Chair.
    In November, I had the opportunity to lead a delegation 
visit to the Arizona-Mexico border, having in-depth 
conversations--and I also brought some of my local sheriffs 
with me as well--but having in-depth conversations with the 
Border Patrol agents, custom agents, and, again, local 
sheriffs, and also Mr. Judd.
    The resounding feedback I received was that our border is 
not secure, which continues to allow the surge of illegal drugs 
that have made every State a border State.
    Florida, like every other State, has seen stark upticks in 
fentanyl poisoning deaths. Without question, without question, 
fentanyl is a weapon of mass destruction. We are at war, ladies 
and gentlemen.
    Sheriff Martinez, when I visited the Arizona-Mexico border, 
I met with Sheriff Dannels, who described the United States' 
southern border as a war zone governed by the Mexican cartels. 
You have provided similar testimony, sir, today.
    He also said that the large policy shifts from the Trump 
administration to the Biden administration have emboldened 
these cartels and elaborated that these new policies have left 
those at the border out to dry. And I've heard this from 
residents here in Texas. Do you feel this is a fair assessment, 
sir?
    Mr. Martinez. Yes, sir, it is.
    Mr. Bilirakis. In your opinion, was the Remain in Mexico 
policy implemented under President Trump helpful?
    Mr. Martinez. Yes, sir, it was. As the wall.
    Mr. Bilirakis. Thank you.
    Mr. Judd, again, it's wonderful to see you again. Thank you 
for all you do.
    Mr. Judd. Thank you.
    Mr. Bilirakis. I greatly appreciated the role you played in 
helping coordinate the visit in November. The time you spent 
with the group was informative, and your frankness continues to 
be refreshing. I would like to ask you similar questions as I 
did Sheriff Martinez.
    Do you agree with Sheriff Dannels' assessment that the 
southern border is a war zone?
    Mr. Judd. I would agree that the southern border is 
controlled by criminal cartels, and large swaths they have 
complete control over.
    Mr. Bilirakis. OK. Do you believe construction of the 
southern wall should be continued and completed?
    Mr. Judd. I know it should. All you have to do is look at 
history. In one of the stations that I was assigned to, 
prewall, we were apprehending a hundred thousand people. 
Postwall, that dropped down to less than 10,000 people. We're 
able to dictate where illegal activity is taking place if we 
have infrastructure like physical barriers.
    Mr. Bilirakis. Thank you very much. What other resources 
and technology do you and the 16,000 Border Patrol field agents 
need to protect our border from the influx of illicit fentanyl?
    Now, I know you said that we got to change the policies, 
but can you elaborate the resources that are needed once we 
change the policies, sir?
    Mr. Judd. So we must retain Border Patrol agents. We can't 
do that right now. We're supposed to be at 21,378, and as yet 
we're at 19,300. That is the resources that we have to be able 
to keep. If we don't have enough agents in the field, we can't 
do the job.
    CBP, they do an incredibly important job. The ports of 
entry are incredibly important, but they don't have an issue of 
retaining employees at the ports of entry. We have an issue 
with retaining employees between the ports of entry, and we 
must be able to retain our employees, and we can't do that 
right now.
    Mr. Bilirakis. Thank you, sir. Ultimately, this is a public 
health crisis, I agree with that.
    Mr. Archer, thanks for being here today to provide 
perspective of healthcare--the workforce trying to address the 
collision of illicit fentanyl and the mental health and 
substance use disorder concerns we face as a Nation.
    How have the policies of the Biden administration 
negatively impacted your facilities, your staff, and ultimately 
patient care?
    Mr. Archer. You know, I think as a behavioral health 
provider today, post-COVID, we are in an environment where, you 
know, certain things have been extended during COVID such as 
telemedicine flexibility, you know, things that we're hoping 
are going to be made permanent in the near future.
    Workforce continues to be one of our major concerns. I know 
I've shared that numerous times with us tonight. It's what we 
wake up to day and night in this industry.
    And, again, I'll just say that behavioral health patients 
and the caregivers that I represent have not always had the 
strongest advocates. And so as we look at the power that 
managed care has and other organizations have, parity remains 
one of our major desires and needs for our industry.
    Mr. Bilirakis. All right. Thank you very much, Mr. 
Chairman, I appreciate it, and I yield back.
    Mr. Griffith. I thank the gentleman for yielding back. I 
now recognize our longest-serving pharmacist in the United 
States House, Buddy Carter.
    Mr. Carter. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I'm going to jump 
right into it because I got a lot to go over in 5 minutes.
    I want to ask you, Mr. Judd, let's talk about this 97 
percent of the fentanyl that is seized is at the border. OK, 
I'll accept that. I'll accept that as being a fact, OK? But 
it's my understanding that U.S. authorities estimate that we're 
only catching 5 to 10 percent that comes across. So if you're 
talking about 97 percent of 10 percent, you're still talking 
about a minuscule amount. Is that correct?
    Mr. Judd. That is correct, yes.
    Mr. Carter. Let me ask you something else. We were at the 
processing center this afternoon, and I heard something that 
was very disturbing, and I need to get clarification on it. 
They told us that because fentanyl is an approved drug in 
America, that the dogs are not trained to sniff for it.
    Mr. Judd. Certain precursors, that is true, but I have 
found that--I used to be a canine handler myself--I have found 
that the dogs are, in fact, finding fentanyl. How that is, I 
don't know. I was a canine handler many years ago, but I do 
know that the canine just detected that in Arizona two nights 
ago.
    Mr. Carter. Well, I certainly hope that's not the case 
because even though it is an approved drug, you've got to have 
a prescription for it. I'm sure these people don't have a 
prescription for it when they're coming across the border.
    Mr. Judd. No, they don't.
    Mr. Carter. Are we checking to see if they got a 
prescription?
    Mr. Judd. We check every document that they have, yes.
    Mr. Carter. Well, I certainly hope that the HALT Fentanyl 
Act, once it's made permanent, that this will make sure that 
every dog is trained to detect fentanyl that's coming across 
that border.
    Let me ask you something else. If you had additional 
resources to put into border security, do you believe that more 
would be seized?
    Mr. Judd. I believe that if we had more personnel on the 
border, absolutely. If we were able to put our--if we were able 
to deploy our agents to the field, yes, I absolutely believe 
that more would be seized.
    Mr. Carter. You know, I get so frustrated by this talk, and 
with all due respect, Mr. Archer and Ms. Garza, when you talk 
about opioid addiction and when you talk about fentanyl 
poisoning, you're apples and oranges here.
    I could not agree more, we need to do something in this 
country about opioid addiction, we need to do more. I've 
witnessed it, a practicing pharmacist, I saw it firsthand. I 
saw it destroy families, I saw it destroy careers. We do need 
to address, but what we're talking about here is fentanyl 
poisoning.
    You know, I was at a town hall meeting, and I made a 
mistake, and as a pharmacist, I made a mistake. I called it 
fentanyl addiction. And a mother jumped up and she said, ``Sir, 
you were wrong. It's not fentanyl addiction, it's fentanyl 
poisoning.'' She said, ``My son took one pill, and he's dead.'' 
She was right, and I was wrong. It is not opioid addiction. It 
is fentanyl poisoning.
    Mr. Archer, one of the things that I think that we can do, 
and we got--you know, there are two solutions to this problem. 
First of all, we got to secure this border and stop these drugs 
from coming across the border. That's the first thing we got to 
do.
    We got a big problem with the amount of drugs that are in 
this country already, and one of the things we've got to do--I 
tell you, in my pack, in my backpack, I carry Naloxone. I carry 
it everywhere I go. Thank God I've never had to use it, and I 
pray to God I don't have to use it.
    But we need to make sure that Naloxone is available over 
the counter. It needs to be in every medicine cabinet in 
America. It needs to be like syrup of ipecac. It needs to be 
there.
    And I call on this committee, we need to have the FDA--and, 
look, I'm a big critic of the FDA a lot of times, but I got to 
give credit where credit's due. They've already started the 
packaging to make this OTC, and now they're waiting on the 
pharmaceutical manufacturers to catch up with them. We need to 
be encouraging them. We need to have this.
    Mr. Archer, have you witnessed this?
    Mr. Archer. We have, we have, and I couldn't agree with you 
more.
    Mr. Carter. Well, you know, look, folks, 200 people every 
day. Two hundred people every day. If this--if you put 200 
people every day in an airplane and crashed it, we'd all be 
walking. They'd stop it immediately. And what are we doing? 
We're sitting here arguing about whether it's at point of entry 
or whether it's a humanitarian crisis or what--it's drugs 
coming across the border. We're not talking rocket science 
here, folks. I just--we got to secure the border, and we got to 
treat these people.
    We need to have this in every medicine cabinet, every 
emergency box. It needs to be like defibrillators. Where you 
got them, you need to have Narcan--Naloxone.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'll yield back.
    Mr. Griffith. Appreciate the gentleman. I now recognize Mr. 
Crenshaw for his 5 minutes.
    Mr. Crenshaw. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for 
holding this field hearing in my home State of Texas. Thank you 
to all the witnesses for being here.
    Look, let's be clear. This is a field hearing on the border 
because fentanyl comes across the southern border. I heard that 
questioned earlier. You can't understand why we're having a 
field hearing on the southern border relating to fentanyl.
    It's because it comes across the southern border, Ms. 
Garza. This is not political theater. This is not 
misinformation. It just comes across the southern border, and 
we're quibbling, as my colleague just said, we're quibbling 
about how much of it comes through points of entry and how much 
of it comes between points of entry.
    Look, multiple things can be true at once. Most of the 
seized fentanyl is seized at points of entry. Another thing can 
be true: A lot of fentanyl comes between points of entry, and 
we don't find it.
    Another thing can be true. It is indeed related to the 
immigration crisis because both crises have a common factor, 
and that is the Mexican drug cartels. That is a common enemy. 
We are not enemies here. This should not be a partisan issue. 
We have a common enemy in the Mexican drug cartels.
    If you don't believe that there's a connection, I think me 
and Mr. Judd, in under a minute of conversation, can help find 
that connection.
    Mr. Judd, it's true that most fentanyl comes through points 
of entry that is seized. Points of entry are run by customs 
agents, correct?
    Mr. Judd. That is correct
    Mr. Crenshaw. OK. How often are custom agents pulled off 
the line to assist Border Patrol because of the immigration 
crisis?
    Mr. Judd. Oh, Border Patrol agents are constantly being 
pulled off of the line to assist customs agents, and at times, 
customs agents are also being pulled off the line to assist 
Border Patrol.
    Mr. Crenshaw. Do we have enough customs agents to actually 
go through all the vehicles we need to go through?
    Mr. Judd. We do not. We need more.
    Mr. Crenshaw. There we go. Cartels, are they making money 
off of illegal immigration? Do they charge every single illegal 
immigrant when they cross that border?
    Mr. Judd. Thirteen billion dollars worth, yes.
    Mr. Crenshaw. Thirteen billion dollars. Do you think they 
reinvest that money in hospitals, in schools, or do you think 
they reinvest that money back into their illicit drug trade?
    Mr. Judd. El Chapo spent an awful lot of money on himself.
    Mr. Crenshaw. Is it also true that what the cartels do is 
tie up Border Patrol agents with hundred of migrants who are, 
indeed, I'm sure, nice people, but they tie them up, process 
them for hours, Border Patrol agents become babysitters and bus 
drivers, and then the cartels use that opportunity to then 
traffic what they want to traffic in places the Border Patrol 
cannot watch?
    Mr. Judd. That is 100 percent correct.
    Mr. Crenshaw. It is connected. It is indeed connected. The 
immigration crisis and the fentanyl crisis are separate, yes, 
but they are connected. This is not a partisan comment to make.
    And it is true what my colleague just said, the longest-
serving pharmacist in Congress: This is a different problem. 
This is not like the war on drugs. This is not cocaine and 
heroin. This is a poisoning problem, and it is poisoning almost 
80,000 Americans a year, and it is coming from two specific 
organizations: the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco Cartel. It 
should be a common enemy for Democrats and Republicans.
    By the way, the man who represents this district that we're 
in right now, Vicente Gonzalez, he agrees with me. We're 
working on legislation together for the authorization of 
military force against the cartels because they are a military 
force. They are some of the best-equipped, best-trained, best-
funded, most dangerous people in the entire world, and they're 
right across the border.
    And they're killing Americans by the tens of thousands. 
More Americans died just in 2021 from fentanyl than the entire 
Vietnam War. They are at war with us.
    I've introduced legislation that would go after them, 
militarily, financially, and go after the kind of people that 
help them, Mexican officials who help them.
    You know, on the enforcement issue, Sheriff, can you 
effectively prosecute fentanyl dealers? Are your hands tied 
there? What can we do better there?
    Mr. Martinez. That's a good question. Definitely need to 
get the AUSA on board, the United States Attorney on board to 
start prosecuting cases. In my case, at the checkpoint, they 
pick and choose what cases they're going to accept and file on, 
and those cases I'll adopt in the State level. It really is not 
going to go anywhere, but----
    Mr. Crenshaw. What do you think--I think some States have 
looked at making--at classifying fentanyl as a poison. Would 
you recommend something like that?
    Mr. Martinez. Yes, Schedule I, yes, sir.
    Mr. Crenshaw. Well, Schedule I is different than 
classifying it as a poison. You classify it as a poison, it 
becomes a murder if you give it to somebody.
    Mr. Martinez. Absolutely. That'll work.
    Mr. Crenshaw. That'll work.
    Ms. Garza, would you agree with that? Do you think fentanyl 
dealers, not the people who are taking it--I understand you 
have sympathy for them, I think we all do--but the dealers who 
knowingly give fentanyl to other people when they think they're 
taking Adderall or heroin or something else, do you think that 
we should vastly increase penalties for them?
    Ms. Garza. I will say that I recently had a C-section, I 
had a baby, and I was given fentanyl by a physician, and I----
    Mr. Crenshaw. That's not my question. That's in an 
operating room.
    Ms. Garza [continuing]. And I believe that there is a drug 
that----
    Mr. Crenshaw. We carry fentanyl on our medics' packs 
overseas. I understand that. Do you think that fentanyl dealers 
trafficking it illicitly, like putting it in Adderall, putting 
it in cocaine, and then people died, you don't think that those 
dealers should have a higher penalty?
    Ms. Garza. I believe that we should be prosecuting people. 
I think that we should stop----
    Mr. Crenshaw. But should they have a higher penalty than--
--
    Ms. Garza [continuing]. The stem of the flow of the drugs 
in this country. But we're conflating the issues and what the 
real problem is. You are identifying, sir, what the problem is, 
and the problem originates not at the border, it originates 
further south. And so we need to put efforts into curbing these 
drugs coming in, and we need to curb--we need to build up the 
rule of law in foreign nations so that people don't feel unsafe 
and have to flee.
    Mr. Crenshaw. Our solution--our solution----
    Ms. Garza. But you are villainizing our community.
    Mr. Crenshaw. I'm not villainizing----
    Ms. Garza. You are villainizing the border and----
    Mr. Griffith. The gentleman's time is up.
    Mr. Crenshaw. Well, can I respond to that?
    I yield back, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
    Mr. Griffith. Thanks. The gentleman yields back. I now 
recognize Dr. Joyce for his 5 minutes of questioning.
    Mr. Joyce. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Today we're looking for 
answers on what can be done to stop the poisonous fentanyl that 
continues to enter our country, enter our country here, through 
our southern border.
    I had an interesting event occur to me as I was traveling 
here to McAllen today on an airplane. I'm a physician. Even on 
the plane, they called for help. I went back. There was a woman 
in respiratory distress.
    I'm on a commercial airplane. They had a stethoscope. They 
had a blood pressure cuff. They had a tank of oxygen. They had 
a whole cadre of medicines, and this woman had a great outcome.
    And yet we are not, as government, providing you with the 
tools to stop this poison, another medical emergency, from 
coming into our country.
    Last year, in my home county, in Pennsylvania, there was a 
record number of drug poisonings that occurred, largely due to 
fentanyl, which has become the number-one killer of Americans 
ages 18 to 45.
    As we look at these deaths, it is critical that we have an 
understanding of how these drugs are entering our communities 
and what can be done to prevent that.
    Recently we've seen reports that the materials to create 
these drugs are produced in China and then shipped to Mexico 
where the cartels mix analogues into other drugs and then move 
them across the southern border.
    It is their business model. They're utilizing those 
specific agents and bringing those poisons to us. So I'd like 
to address my questions to you, Mr. Judd.
    How do you feel the fentanyl precursor chemicals get 
through Mexico's Customs and Border inspections?
    Mr. Judd. Unfortunately, we can't control what happens in 
other countries. Afghanistan has taught us that. Mr. Crenshaw 
has clearly--his service has taught us that we cannot control 
what happens in other countries. We can only control what 
happens right here in the United States.
    And what we do know is that this $13 billion that is 
generated through human smuggling, that money is going back 
into the Mexican economy. Why would they want that to stop?
    Then you add on top of that the amount of drugs that are 
coming into the United States and all of that, why would they 
want to stop that?
    I believe the Mexican Government does not want any of this 
crisis to end. In fact, the only time that they have ever 
become true border security partners is when our Government 
threatens them with tariffs.
    Mr. Joyce. As we look at this continuation of the crisis--
as we look at this continuation of the poisoning, Mr. Judd, do 
you feel that you have access to the appropriate personnel, 
policies to stem this tide?
    I was in a situation today, I had the appropriate sources, 
and I was able to turn things around. Do you, as the Border 
Patrol, do you have the appropriate resources, personnel, and 
policies to stem what is coming across our border tonight?
    Mr. Judd. Congress has allocated enough funds for enough 
agents. We just can't keep those agents. So we have to be able 
to retain our agents. No, we do not have enough Border Patrol 
agents to do what is necessary.
    I do not work at the ports of entry, but I know an awful 
lot of OFO officers, and I would tell you that they do not feel 
that that they are properly staffed even though they are able 
to retain their agents.
    Mr. Joyce. Mr. Judd, in your testimony you stated that in 
your 25 years of service with Border Patrol, right now our 
border is the least secure.
    Mr. Judd. Yes.
    Mr. Joyce. Do you feel that is true?
    Mr. Judd. Yes. 1.2 million gotaways clearly shows that.
    Mr. Joyce. Mr. Judd, the increased high-value fentanyl 
doubled from President Biden's first year in office to his 
second year. Do you expect that that's going to continue?
    Mr. Judd. I do, yes.
    Mr. Joyce. And finally as president of the Border Patrol 
Council, do you see this fentanyl poisoning crisis continuing 
until government, until Congress, makes the appropriate steps?
    Mr. Judd. I believe that there are executive actions that 
can be taken, but, yes, for the long run, Congress must address 
this issue.
    Mr. Joyce. I thank all of the witnesses for their testimony 
today, and I yield the remainder of my time.
    Mr. Griffith. Thank you, Dr. Joyce. I now recognize Diana 
Harshbarger, the youngest of our pharmacists, for her 5 minutes 
of questioning.
    Mrs. Harshbarger. Thanks, Mr. Chairman. Thank you to the 
witnesses who are here today.
    Mr. Judd, we just talked about this with Dr. Joyce. In your 
testimony you mentioned, from your firsthand knowledge and 
experience, that the Biden administration's open border 
policies have so stretched the Border Patrol agents thin that 
the number of gotaways is almost too many to quantify. You said 
that there were 1.2 million. How many do you really think have 
come across that border?
    Mr. Judd. So being a 25-year veteran myself and talking 
with agents on a daily basis, I believe that we detect about 80 
percent of what actually crosses the border.
    Mrs. Harshbarger. Yes. So there's many more than that?
    Mr. Judd. Yes, that's correct.
    Mrs. Harshbarger. CBP has apprehended individuals on the 
terrorist watch list, correct?
    Mr. Judd. That is correct, yes.
    Mrs. Harshbarger. So some of these gotaways could well be 
on that watch list, on that terrorist watch list. Am I correct?
    Mr. Judd. Yes, yes. In fact, just a few weeks ago, DPS 
pulled over a vehicle in which an Iranian national was stashed 
in the trunk of the vehicle. That person would have evaded 
apprehension if it was not for what DPS did.
    Mrs. Harshbarger. Absolutely. You know, my stats say that 
53 people on terrorist watch lists have been apprehended trying 
to enter the U.S. between ports of entry so far this fiscal 
year.
    We're seeing an increase in Chinese nationals crossing the 
border illegally. In the last 3 months of 2022 that skyrocketed 
by 700 percent. Do you think the Chinese criminal--
transcriminal organizations are assisting the Mexican cartels?
    Mr. Judd. I do, absolutely.
    Mrs. Harshbarger. Absolutely. So do I. And as a pharmacist, 
Ms. Garza, we do use fentanyl for birthing and a lot of other 
things, for cancer therapies. And I don't know if young people 
in this room or that are listening to this know, it only takes 
two grains of sand--that's how much 2 milligrams of fentanyl 
is--to kill you dead. And this is why this is such a critical 
issue.
    You know, in terms of illicit fentanyl, record amounts of 
seizures, as Joshua Sharfstein of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg 
School of Public Health has said, if you're seizing a lot, it's 
because a lot is coming in.
    And would you agree with the stat that 5 to 10 percent is 
what--that's all that's being intercepted at the border?
    Mr. Judd. I believe so----
    Mrs. Harshbarger. I do too.
    Mr. Judd [continuing]. And the reason why, yes, I believe 
that--and the reason why I believe that is all my partnerships 
with other law enforcement organizations throughout this 
country. And every single one of them will tell you, they have 
never seen the amount of product on the streets today as--in 
the history of law enforcement.
    Mrs. Harshbarger. Well, yes, they're marketing to children, 
making them multicolored, now they're doing tie-dyed. It's any 
way they can get it.
    And this question is to Mr. Judd and Sheriff Martinez: In 
your views, should Title 42 be used not just for communicable 
diseases but also if there's dangerous substances coming across 
the border, sir?
    Mr. Martinez. Yes, ma'am.
    Mrs. Harshbarger. Do you think we should designate fentanyl 
as weapons of mass destruction?
    Mr. Martinez. I think it classifies under that, yes.
    Mrs. Harshbarger. Yes, so do I. Do the Mexican authorities 
know which specific cartels are trafficking fentanyl? And Mr. 
Crenshaw mentioned there's two active cartels in my State of 
Tennessee, and the Sinaloa is one of those.
    So why can't these authorities--or can they or won't they 
stop these cartels, the Mexican authorities?
    Mr. Martinez. Because there's a lot of money involved.
    Mrs. Harshbarger. Yes.
    Mr. Martinez. And that's--in that particular country, money 
kind of carries the rule of law.
    Mrs. Harshbarger. Money does carry the rule of law, 
exactly.
    How would you both, Mr. Judd and Sheriff, describe our law 
enforcement intelligence-gathering efforts on cartel members? 
Is it good, bad, indifferent?
    Mr. Martinez. No, I think they're doing a great job.
    Mrs. Harshbarger. OK.
    Mr. Martinez. I think we just need to have the Federal 
Government do the work, do the job they're supposed to. It'll 
take care of it.
    Mrs. Harshbarger. OK. Mr. Judd?
    Mr. Judd. We know who they are. It's just a matter of 
catching them.
    Mrs. Harshbarger. You know, I've been on Homeland Security 
2 years prior. I was on Homeland Security with several Members 
in here, and when we went to the border--and this is the third 
time I've been here--to talk to these intelligence gathering, 
you know what they ask us to do, they say, ``We don't need 
anything, just let us do our job.'' That's all they ask for.
    When these cartel members are caught, do they provide you 
with good information, or is it a struggle?
    Mr. Judd. It's an extreme struggle, that the only reason 
that they'll provide us information is if there's something in 
it for them.
    Mrs. Harshbarger. Same.
    Mr. Martinez. I haven't had that experience. They usually 
just lawyer up and have the court-appointed attorney to take 
care of them.
    Mrs. Harshbarger. Absolutely. Should we designate these 
cartels as terrorist organizations?
    Mr. Martinez. Yes, we should.
    Mrs. Harshbarger. Yes, we should.
    Mr. Judd. Yes, but my answer is going to be tempered. I 
very much worry that if we designate them as a terrorist 
organization, that the gloves come off. Right now, they operate 
behind the scenes. And if they operate behind the scenes, we 
can go after them behind the scenes. The moment we designate 
them as a terrorist organization and we start seizing their 
assets, they no longer have to operate behind the scenes. They 
are a terrorist organization, make no mistake about that. How 
we deal with them, I think, that we have to be very intelligent 
in the way we deal with them.
    Mrs. Harshbarger. Well, we need to talk about that, Mr. 
Judd.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
    Mr. Griffith. Gentlelady yields back.
    I know recognize Dr. Miller-Meeks for her 5 minutes.
    Mrs. Miller-Meeks. Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. I thank 
the members of this committee for the hearing, and I thank all 
of our witnesses who are here today.
    And let me just say, given some of the testimony I have 
heard today from my colleagues, that I am a former director of 
the Iowa Department of Public Health, have managed programs 
that take care of addiction, a former State Senator and as a 
Member of Congress have participated in both healthcare and 
bills that have been schools of society service for behavioral 
health, no preauthorization for Medicaid-assisted treatment, 
addiction programs to help addiction. And for those who cannot 
see or connect the dots between the border and the fentanyl 
crisis, I find that perhaps minds are closed to what is obvious 
to the rest of us.
    Ms. Garza, Representative Veasey, I think, contradicted 
your testimony and the reasons you said people are coming 
across the border. And he very aptly said that people are 
coming across the border unauthorized without documents for 
economic reasons.
    When I had visited the Border Patrol--and I grew up in 
Texas, went to San Antonio College, University of Texas for 
medical school, nursing school here as well, have never seen 
immigration, illegal immigration, at the level we have here now 
or to the level that you see with drugs coming across the 
border. People are coming here for economic reasons. We also 
have a legal immigration system where 1 million people are 
supposed to be coming across.
    Is it humane that people that are here waiting in line for 
decades are not able to come because we are processing through 
4.5 million illegal immigrants in 2 years? Is that humane to 
those individuals waiting? It's a yes or no answer.
    Ms. Garza. I would say that the solutions to these problems 
are more complex than your talking points.
    Dr. Miller-Meeks. Yes or no. Thank you for your answer.
    Ms. Garza. It is a complex issue that we need to address.
    Dr. Miller-Meeks. Do you know how many deaths there were 
crossing the border in 2020? How many deaths of illegal 
immigrants crossing the border in 2020? Do you know the answer 
to that? Three hundred forty-seven. In 2021, 546. In 2022, 853.
    Is it humane for a government to have pull-factors to bring 
people across the border on a perilous journey as you described 
with a death rate of that, when March 5th, 2019, the New York 
Times claimed that the border was at its breaking point as more 
than 76,000 unauthorized migrants in more than a month in 
February of 2019. It was at a breaking point under a different 
administration. So perhaps there is politics involved.
    Are you aware of how much money the cartels make in 
smuggling people across the border? Thirteen point five billion 
dollars. Does that help to ameliorate any of the poverty or 
economic disadvantage or lack of healthcare in any of these 
countries? No, it does not. Are you aware that 51.6 billion in 
remittances went back from illegal immigrants, migrants in the 
United States to Mexico? And does that have anything to do with 
why we cannot control our southern border?
    Fentanyl and fentanyl analogs have been responsible in 2019 
for 28,000 deaths, in 2020 for 38,000--28,000 deaths from flu, 
38,000 deaths from auto accidents. For fentanyl, the overdose 
deaths in 2020 was 91,799; 2021, 106,000; and this year, which 
is not yet available because we are a year behind.
    We consider flu at 28,000 deaths a year to be endemic. I 
would say that this would classify as an epidemic, our fentanyl 
opioid crisis. The Council on Foreign Relations called it that. 
The CDC has called it an epidemic, and the Washington Post in 
December of 2022 has called it an epidemic.
    Mr. Judd, you mentioned--and I just want us to underscore 
this point again because there seems to be people who don't 
understand the connection between fentanyl coming across our 
border.
    Again, are illegal drugs coming across the border, and are 
illegal immigrants being used as a decoy to allow drugs to come 
through places other than ports of entry?
    Mr. Judd. Every single day.
    Dr. Miller-Meeks. Thank you. Now that we've had the CDC, 
the Washington Post, the Council on Foreign Relations call the 
opioid crisis, the opioid and fentanyl epidemic an epidemic, 
Mr. Archer, currently Title 42 authorizes the HHS Secretary to 
restrict persons and importations from foreign countries to 
prevent the introduction and spread of communicable diseases. 
The purpose of this authority it to protect the public health 
from serious danger.
    As has been clearly discussed and as I just alluded, by 
nonright-wing publications who considered the fentanyl crisis 
as an epidemic, as established today, fentanyl analogs are a 
clear and present, serious danger to the public health of our 
communities and constituents.
    Would updating Title 42 to include certain substances, such 
as fentanyl and fentanyl analogs, and specific opioids and 
narcotics, be helpful to you and agencies, companies, and 
communities that you serve?
    Mr. Archer. Yes.
    Dr. Miller-Meeks. Thank you very much. I yield back.
    Mr. Griffith. Thank the gentlelady for yielding back.
    I now recognize the gentlelady, Ms. Cammack, for her 5 
minutes.
    Mrs. Cammack. Thank, Mr. Chairman. Thank you to everyone 
for making the trip down here. Thank you to our witnesses. 
We'll jump right into it.
    Going down the line here, do you believe that we have a 
crisis at the southwest border?
    Mr. Martinez. Yes, ma'am.
    Mrs. Cammack. Doctor?
    Mr. Archer. I would say, look, as a healthcare provider, I 
am more of an expert about what happens when----
    Mrs. Cammack. Just yes or no, please.
    Mr. Archer. I can speak to if----
    Mrs. Cammack. You personally, just yes or no.
    Mr. Archer. I am not an expert on border or policies. I 
think I can talk to what happens on the other side if we don't.
    Mrs. Cammack. I'm sorry. I have to reclaim my time.
    Ms. Garza, do we have a crisis at the southwest border.
    Ms. Garza. We have a humanitarian crisis. Yes.
    Mrs. Cammack. Thank you.
    Mr. Judd. I don't just believe, I know we have a crisis.
    Mrs. Cammack. Thank you.
    Ms. Garza, how many shifts or ride-alongs have you done 
with Customs and Border Patrol agents or Texas DPS?
    Ms. Garza. Actually, a few. I have represented hundreds of 
children in----
    Mrs. Cammack. When did you do these ride-alongs?
    Ms. Garza. 2018, 2017. It's been some time. I have spent 
some time at OFO also in the ports of entry and spoken with 
people.
    Mrs. Cammack. I am going to reclaim my time. So you have 
not done a ride-along or worked a shift along Texas DPS or our 
Border Patrol agents since the Biden administration been in 
office?
    Ms. Garza. Ma'am, I've been practicing immigration law 
since the Obama administration----
    Mrs. Cammack. Correct?
    That is just a yes or no. Yes or no?
    Ms. Garza. Ma'am, I've been practicing immigration law.
    Mrs. Cammack. That's not answering my question.
    Ms. Garza. I am an attorney. I'm not a police officer. I'm 
not an officer.
    Mrs. Cammack. OK. So then you haven't. So you said earlier, 
quote, operation Lone Star has not resulted in any sort of 
reduction of fentanyl deaths in your respective districts, 
talking about our district, end quote. You referenced Operation 
Lone Star more than three times today in your testimony and in 
answering questions saying that it's essentially a waste of 
taxpayer funds.
    Ms. Garza. Yes.
    Mrs. Cammack. I want to look at the results of Operation 
Lone Star to date since it took place in 2021. Three hundred 
sixty-one million lethal doses of fentanyl have been 
apprehended, have been confiscated. That's just Operation Lone 
Star. That doesn't include what CDC or Border Patrol has 
actually confiscated.
    So going back to what you said, that Operation Lone Star is 
not stopping any fentanyl deaths and it's a waste of money, how 
do you explain the 361 million lethal doses that have been 
confiscated, and I guess in your opinion what is the price of a 
life then?
    Ms. Garza. We are talking about billions of dollars that 
have further militarized this region and the State of Texas. It 
has been----
    Mrs. Cammack. Three hundred sixty-one million lethal doses 
is a waste of taxpayer dollars?
    Ms. Garza. Look--look, we both care about a solution here. 
We need to address the fentanyl issue.
    Mrs. Cammack. I am going to reclaim my time. When I reclaim 
my time, that means you have to stop talking. Three hundred 
sixty-one million lethal doses is a waste of taxpayer money in 
your opinion, yes or no?
    Ms. Garza. I believe that Operation Lone Star is illegal, 
and it is a waste of taxpayer dollars.
    Mrs. Cammack. So you think it is a waste of money. Ms. 
Garza, you stated, quote, ``I don't understand why we are here 
at the border. There is no connection,'' end quote. Let me show 
you what the connection is. This is a brick of fentanyl that 
was found in my district in Florida, in Marion County. This is 
958 grams of fentanyl. The people who had that brick of 
fentanyl crossed the border illegally. That is the connection. 
And it's not just my district. Every single one of these 
Members here today have illegal, illegal substances in their 
district as a result of the Biden open-border policies. That is 
the connection.
    Every single one of us has constituents who have been 
poisoned as a result. To say that there is no connection, that 
is wildly inappropriate, unacceptable, and to the families that 
have lost loved ones as a result of the open-border policies, 
you should apologize. There is a direct connection. It's right 
here. In my--No. No. No.
    Ms. Garza. Ma'am, they are putting it on the backs of 
individuals seeking asylum. That is a fact.
    Mrs. Cammack. In my county, Marion County--and I represent 
12, 12 counties. In Marion County alone, over 70 percent of the 
200 monthly overdoses are fentanyl. These are fentanyl 
poisonings. And as has been made clear here today by my 
colleagues, only 5 to 10 percent of the fentanyl that is being 
smuggled over the border into the United States is documented. 
That is what we know of. This is a crisis.
    I'm going to--I only have 25 seconds. So I am going to end 
with this. Do you agree--because I went through your Twitter 
feed. I went through several of the things that you posted. You 
talk a lot about social justice. Do you believe that social 
justice is Biden taking $130 million from homeless veterans' 
programs under FEMA and redirecting it to the border crisis 
here?
    Ms. Garza. I believe that you are using the border as a 
political talking point, and we do not appreciate that.
    Mrs. Cammack. Answer the question.
    Let the record reflect that the witness has declined to 
answer the question under oath.
    Mr. Griffith. I will.
    Mrs. Cammack. I yield.
    Mr. Griffith. Gentlelady yields back.
    I recognize the gentleman, Mr. Walberg, for his 5 minutes 
of questions.
    Mr. Walberg. I thank the Chairman, and I thank the 
witnesses for being here. And I thank my fellow committee 
members for taking the trip down here. Mr. Chairman, I think 
this is a good pattern to have on a regular basis of going out 
to the places we are finding information from and talking to 
the people.
    I represent a district that goes from Lake Michigan to Lake 
Erie and borders with Canada. We have illegal drugs being 
smuggled across Canada and from Canada in interesting ways, 
scuba divers come and cross Detroit River, Lake Erie, to our 
district, but nothing at the level we are seeing here. I must 
admit that.
    Last week, I held a teletown hall in my district and heard 
from Michiganers across the Fifth District. One community in 
Wajack, Michigan, over on the west side of the State, in fact, 
told me that a person said that they had had eight fentanyl 
overdoses happen in their town in one week this year already. 
Eight people in 1 week in a town of 5,000 people, and that is 
unacceptable.
    In my district, as well, we have as far as I know the only 
facility of its kind that provides low-income housing for 
individuals who come through treatment centers and are trying 
to make it and rather going back to communities from which they 
came, they come to Andy's Place and they have a full of 
services there, legal services, social services, psychiatric 
services, job training services all in the building and the 
peer pressure in the positive way that goes with that. We began 
to see 2 years ago that facility begin to be able to keep up 
with people coming in, and that's all changed now. Waiting 
lists have increased.
    Clearly, this administration is failing to protect 
Americans from the scourge of illicit fentanyl coming in from 
the southern border, and we've seen that take place.
    Mr. Archer, with eight overdoses in just one small town, 
I'm concerned about the ability of our hospitals to keep up and 
provide good quality care. Our healthcare workers are already 
being stretched thin as a result of COVID, and the shutdowns 
and all that went with that. How is the fentanyl crisis 
contributing to this issue with hospitals specifically?
    Mr. Archer. Thank you for the question. You know, I think 
our hospitals in this Nation have never been in a more perilous 
position. I think post-COVID, we've got a very brittle 
healthcare system with stressed-out workers across the 
continuum. In a hospital community's first goal and biggest 
focus has to be on its own community. It has to be those that 
they call neighbors and loved ones. And so I think any massive 
flow of patients of this type would severely strain and have 
risk of breaking any of the health systems.
    Mr. Walberg. That is a concern, and then the impact that it 
has on families trying to deal with that as well.
    Mr. Archer. That is right.
    Mr. Walberg. The care. The cost. The upheaval in life also.
    Mr. Judd, thank you for your longtime service for our 
country. You've had an opportunity to talk about some things 
you need. Specifically, you said we need more Border Patrol 
agents. We accept that. In what we saw today even in the 
processing center and how many staff were needed from all--all 
aspects of the border protection, and then not on the border.
    In a list of priorities, what works best in tools for 
securing the border? Could you list it prioritywise, starting 
with Border Patrol agents, yes.
    Mr. Judd. Look, I never want to put the cart before the 
horse. I will always say that we have to have policy. Policy is 
the number-one thing that we need. Once we have policy, then we 
evaluate what else is necessary. After policy, I would then say 
personnel, both at the ports of entry, between the ports of 
entry. Once you have the personnel, then I would say 
technologies such as infrastructure. Once you have the 
infrastructure, you can work down. But you have to see what 
works and then work down. Otherwise, all you're doing is 
wasting taxpayer dollars, and I don't want to do that.
    Mr. Walberg. When we saw infrastructure upgraded just a few 
years ago, even on the most eastern edge of this area, the Rio 
Grande Valley area, when we saw infrastructure, whether it was 
walls or whether it was electronics, did we see significant 
downgrading of the influx at the border?
    Mr. Judd. So where we really it was in policy. Once 
President Trump implemented the migrant protection protocols, 
that's when we saw it, but then couple that with everything 
else, yes, that's what happened. But even President Trump 
struggled with illegal immigration until he implemented the 
migrant protection protocols. He created the wheel. We always 
say don't recreate the wheel. He did create the wheel because 
no wheel existed, and he had to do it.
    Mr. Walberg. Thank you. My time has expired, and I yield 
back.
    Mr. Griffith. The gentleman yields back.
    And I recognize Mr. Weber for his 5 minutes.
    Mr. Weber. Thank you.
    I'm not going to have a whole lot of questions. I'm going 
to give you some background. I served in the Texas legislation 
with Rick Perry, with now-Governor Abbott. Operation Lone Star 
is a huge success. When we were back then the border--2011, the 
legislature, Steve McCraw, director of DPS, told me personally 
that 5,000 Texans had been injured, violently raped, pistol 
whipped, pistol beaten, home was burglarized, cars stolen, 
businesses broken into, by people, illegals who aren't even 
supposed to be here. That's 5,000 Texans back in 2011. I 
shudder to think what it is now, Brandon.
    The latest provision on CDC--you all know this--have come 
out in January--12 months ending in '22, 80,590 deaths. 
Seventy-five percent--66.5 percent were involved in synthetic 
opioids, primarily listed manufactured fentanyl. Look at the 
CDC's website.
    They're on the rise: 2020, it was 50,000 deaths; now it's 
71,000 deaths. If you divide 71,450 deaths by 365 days, it's 
195 deaths a day from fentanyl. If only 20 percent of deaths 
from open border came through the open border instead of those 
ports of entry that have been touted here, all right, then 20 
percent of 71,450 deaths. Oh gosh. That's only 14,000 deaths a 
day. Wow. That's almost one passenger airliner a week crashing 
in our country. How long do you think that would go on before 
Americans would rise up and say enough is enough?
    I was also on the Pub Ed Committee in the Texas 
legislature. This is from mypublicschoolTexas.org. I looked up 
the stats: 1,026 districts, 5.5 millions students. Divide that 
out, the average school district is about 5,360 students, K 
through 12. When you brought in 70,000 unaccompanied minors two 
summers ago, you just brought in 13 complete school districts 
somebody has to pay to educate.
    Folks, we cannot be the charity for the world. And if you 
want to be gracious about the school district figures--dare I 
call it liberal--let's use 10,000 students as the average 
school district in Texas, oh gosh, then it's only seven 
complete school districts every summer that we're bringing in 
that somebody has to continue. We absolutely can't do this.
    Your heart goes out to people who are in countries less 
fortunate than we are. We cannot be the charity for the world. 
There is a system set up for them to seek asylum. Seek 
sanctuary if you want to choose that word. Stay in their 
system, make the claim that they're persecuted by their 
government, they're persecuted for their religion, or they're 
part of a group that is persecuted due to their sex or religion 
or whatever. Those are the three reasons to claim they need 
asylum. Do it in their own country before they come here.
    I speak Spanish. [Speaks in foreign language.] Y'all need 
to learn Spanish. I have been on the border nine times. Every 
single person that I have spoken to in the border in Spanish 
since I have been here, they're coming for the jobs. They're 
coming for the jobs. Not that they're scared of their 
government, not that they're scared of the drug cartel, not 
that they're persecuted for their religion or anything else. 
They're coming here for the jobs. We absolutely can't continue 
to do this.
    I am going to go to you, Mr. Brandon--Mr. Judd. If, in 
fact, in 2011--and you are taking my words for it. I know what 
I learned with DPS when I was in the legislature--that there 
was 5,000 Texans who were violently robbed--I mean, violated, 
raped, some of them violently raped, in 2011. And you were on 
the Border Patrol in 2011, right?
    Mr. Judd. Yes.
    Mr. Weber. How much would you guesstimate that's increased 
in today under Biden's open border?
    Mr. Judd. In 2011, I believe that we apprehended somewhere 
around 400,000--between 400,000, 500,000. Today, we're 
apprehending between 2 million and 2.3 million. So therefore it 
stands to reason that it would increase by the exact same 
number, so 5 times more.
    Mr. Weber. That's unbelievable. And I know that there was a 
comment made that we need to separate this into two things. You 
know, we want to try to make this a dual--it's about border 
security. It's about saving American lives. That's simple, and 
I yield back.
    Mr. Griffith. The gentleman yields back.
    And I now recognize Mr. Allen for his 5 minutes.
    Mr. Allen. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And we all got up early 
and traveled here today. And if what I have learned so far and 
what I've learned since serving on the committees starting my 
service here in the 118th Congress has made me very aware of a 
serious problem that we have in this country. You know, our 
Nation is being invaded. Laws are being ignored, and young 
people are dying.
    We are at war, and we don't even know it. And this is not a 
stunt. I mean--and I think the name is appropriate. I mean, the 
commander in chief of the United States of America is supposed 
to protect the American people. I mean, national security 
should be number one. This administration, including Secretary 
Mayorkas and Attorney General Garland, are ignoring the current 
immigration laws of this land and handcuffing the very people 
from enforcing it.
    In 1971, then-President Nixon declared war on drugs in 
America. Under the Reagan administration, President Reagan 
reinforced and expanded many of Nixon's war on drugs. In 1984, 
his wife, Nancy Reagan, launched the ``Just say no.'' In 1986, 
under President Reagan, Congress passed the Antidrug Abuse Act, 
which established mandatory minimum prison sentences for 
certain drug offenses, which is the very thing we are talking 
about and begging for here today, it is to deal with this 
enemy.
    You know--and then again, talking about the people in South 
America, you know there are a lot of churches in my district 
that have missionaries in South America. I've been there. I've 
been there with my children. These are good people. Now, we 
poured floors in huts that had floors of mud. We built latrines 
where they didn't have bathrooms. We planted churches--we built 
churches. We built schools, and let me tell you, these people 
of faith have the strongest faith I have ever seen in my life. 
They love their country, but unfortunately their country is run 
by corrupt leaders and cartels who absolutely--it's an 
abomination what they do to their people. And they, you know, 
they want to stay there in their country.
    You know, the thing that--you know, that really gets me is 
why can't we solve this problem? I mean, we got good people 
that want, I believe, the same thing, but I--you know, it's 
like how do we get there?
    You know, Mr. Judd, what will it take for you to secure 
that border? I mean, if we give you full authority--if I were 
President of the United States and I said ``Secure that 
border,'' what would you do?
    Mr. Judd. I have lived through it already. I know what's 
necessary. We need policy.
    Mr. Allen. You know exactly what needs to be done?
    Mr. Judd. We need policy. Absolutely.
    Mr. Allen. Is anybody in the White House listening to you?
    Mr. Judd. No. Absolutely not.
    Mr. Allen. All right. The cartels, we've already learned 
what they're about and whether they should be declared 
terrorist organizations. I have cosigned that AUMF to declare 
war on those cartels, and I think we need to take your advice, 
because they are very, very--I mean, they are bad people.
    Mr. Judd. They are.
    Mr. Allen. My question is: How many of the cartels have 
infiltrated the United States?
    Mr. Judd. There is plenty of testimony, there is plenty of 
evidence to show that they operate here in the United States. 
They don't just operate in Mexico. They don't just operate in 
China. They operate here in the United States. Once it crosses 
the border illegally, then it's facilitated by those 
organizations throughout the entire United States, whether 
that's Ohio, whether that's Minnesota, whether that's Michigan. 
It doesn't matter. It's everywhere, including Maine.
    Mr. Allen. Obviously, there are crime syndicates all over 
the country. The FBI has been very successful in dealing with 
that through history. And obviously, I think we need to bring 
the FBI in and see really what they're doing to help you and 
the Sheriff to deal with this. Because we take an oath to the 
Constitution to protect the American people against enemies 
both foreign and domestic, and we need as a Congress to get it 
done.
    Thank you for being here and your testimony. And with that, 
I yield back.
    Mr. Griffith. Thank the gentleman for yielding back.
    I now recognize last, but not least, Mr. Pfluger.
    Mr. Pfluger. I thank the chair.
    You know, this is not my first time to McAllen, it's not my 
second time to McAllen, it's not my third time to McAllen. 
That's just in 2 years. You know, the Office of Refugee 
Resettlement is incredibly busy. In fact, they put 700 
unaccompanied minors into my district in Midland, Texas, in the 
spring/winter of 2021. You know, the tragedies that these kids 
go through. Ms. Garza, I am looking at you because they're 
tragic, and I want to find something we can agree on.
    Not only the tragedies that we see with the kids being 
trafficked, but also the cost to Texans. You mentioned the 
cost. I would say last year the reasonable, very conservative, 
low estimates to the cost of Texans is around $5 billion. 
That's in hospital care. That's in school. That's in the 
criminal proceedings. That's what the sheriff has dealt with.
    In response to my colleague, Mr. Cardenas, wouldn't we do 
anything possible if we had our children who were being 
poisoned by these illicit drugs and by fentanyl? You know, when 
I was here last time, to Mr. Judd's point, at one of the 
processing centers I just happened to be walking through--and I 
would encourage you to go on that ride-along, 5 years ago is 
way too long--but I just happened to be walking through and I 
saw this man with a tattoo on his hand. And it was a skull 
being crushed. And I asked the Border Patrol agents, I said 
what does that stand for. They said, ``Oh, he's the enforcer.'' 
I said, ``Where's he from?'' He lives in McAllen. He's an 
illegal immigrant that lives in McAllen, and he's responsible 
for enforcing the laws of the cartel, the so-called laws, the 
rules of the cartel.
    You know, even Democrat mayors, including McAllen's own 
mayor, pushing back against the nonsense that's being spewed 
out of Washington, that there's no connection or link between 
illegal immigration and the surge we have in this fentanyl 
crisis.
    You know, the--Ms. Garza, I think you are right. Most 
migrants are not carrying fentanyl, but would you agree that 
many of them, if not all of them, are being trafficked 
themselves?
    Ms. Garza. I think these are desperate people in desperate 
situations.
    Mr. Pfluger. Agree.
    Ms. Garza. And they're seeking the safety of this country.
    Mr. Pfluger. Would you agree they're being trafficked?
    Ms. Garza. Trafficked is a legal term. I would say that 
these folks are being smuggled in.
    Mr. Pfluger. I've got lots of questions. I am going to keep 
moving. Let's establish some baselines here.
    Ms. Garza, would a decrease in the amount of supply of 
fentanyl or other illicit drugs help the opioid or the drug 
problem that we have in this country? Would it decrease in the 
supply?
    Ms. Garza. My position is and what I am saying here is that 
there is an opioid addiction issue that we have in this 
country. And there is demand.
    Mr. Pfluger. OK. I understand there is demand. But would 
supply----
    Ms. Garza. If we decrease the demand, we'll decrease the 
demand.
    Mr. Pfluger. But not the supply?
    Ms. Garza. The supply is meeting the demand that we have.
    Mr. Pfluger. I think we are talking on two different fact 
sheets here.
    The consequences--Mr. Judd, we've talked about this. Are 
there any consequences for the trafficking of humans, the 
trafficking of drugs, and the trafficking of other materials 
into this country?
    Mr. Judd. I wish I could say yes, but absolutely not. All 
you have to do is look at the number of people that we take 
into custody and how many prosecutions are coming out of that. 
And there are next to no prosecutions that are coming out of 
it.
    Mr. Pfluger. Sheriff, in your line of work does deterrence 
work to curb criminal activity?
    Mr. Martinez. Yes. It sure does.
    Mr. Pfluger. What types of deterrence have you seen over 
your 40-plus-year a career that works?
    Mr. Martinez. Well, actually, whatever is on the 
prosecution side of in terms of sentencing, it works. But we 
really definitely need to prosecute, though.
    Mr. Pfluger. OK. Would you say lack of prosecution of the 
activities that are involved and associated with illegal 
immigration, whether it's trafficking of people or drugs, is 
leading to the crisis we see right now?
    Mr. Martinez. Yes, sir.
    Mr. Pfluger. Mr. Judd, you kind of just answered this with 
my colleague, Mr. Allen, but what's the root cause of this 
surge, and what's the connection of the surge of illegal 
immigration to fentanyl?
    Mr. Judd. There is plenty of evidence that clearly shows 
that any time that we release people into the United States 
after crossing the border illegally, more people will come. 
That has always been proven to be correct. And what we have 
seen under this administration, we have seen more people be 
released into the United States after crossing the border 
illegally. And if you do that--if you reward people for 
violating our laws, our laws will be violated.
    Mr. Pfluger. Sheriff, if we don't change a single law and 
the President stood up today and he said we're shutting down 
our border, would that have effect--I mean, we're not talking 
about anything other than rhetoric, would that have an effect 
on the cartels?
    Mr. Martinez. Absolutely. Rhetoric has to do everything 
with it.
    Mr. Pfluger. So the lack of rhetoric or the rhetoric to say 
that we're open--because I was there under the bridge in Del 
Rio when 15,000 Haitians were there, and they told me to my 
face that the reason they were there was because the border was 
open, because there are no consequences, because the punisher 
who has a skull tattoo on his hand and who is living in our 
communities is the problem, the punisher who is enforcing both 
the regulations, the laws of the cartel and us, the United 
States of America, who are not able to do that--and I have lots 
of questions, but apparently my time is up.
    And I yield back.
    Mr. Griffith. Appreciate the gentleman yielding back.
    Ms. Craig offered a document previously to be entered into 
the record. Without objection, so ordered.
    Seeing there are no further Members wishing to ask 
questions or who haven't already run out of time, I would like 
to thank all of our witnesses, again, for being here tonight, 
taking your time to be with us to talk to the American people 
and us.
    Pursuant to committee rules, I remind Members that they 
have 10 business days to submit additional questions for the 
record, and I ask that the witnesses submit their response 
within 10 business days upon receipt of those questions.
    Without objection, the subcommittees are hereby adjourned.
    [Whereupon, at 8:40 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
    [Material submitted for inclusion in the record follows:]
    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]