[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 25 (Tuesday, February 8, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E128]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         THREAT FROM FENTANYL FLOWING OVER OUR SOUTHERN BORDER

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                           HON. PAUL A. GOSAR

                               of arizona

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 8, 2022

  Mr. GOSAR. Madam Speaker, I rise today to address a catastrophic mass 
death in our country because of our open borders--all due to fentanyl.
  Fentanyl is freely flowing across our southern border as seizures 
increased by nearly 135 percent in 2021 under Joe Biden's laxed 
immigration enforcement.
  In FY 2021, Customs and Border Protection seized 11,201 pounds of 
fentanyl, a historic rate that is more than all that was seized in 2018 
and 2019 combined. This amounts to enough fentanyl to cause 
2,540,341,996 deaths, or more than 7 times the U.S. population.
  The free flow of this deadly drug across our border is a direct 
result of the Biden administration's open border policies. The fact is, 
Joe Biden continues to ignore and fails to address the record high 
overdose deaths caused from deadly fentanyl-related substances crossing 
our border.
  As a result, the scourge of fentanyl is destroying our communities, 
killing our children and devastating our families.
  According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), U.S. overdose 
deaths reached a devastating new height in 2021, claiming a new victim 
every five minutes.
  There is a direct link between fentanyl-related overdose deaths and 
criminal drug cartels in Mexico. The ease in which the drug cartels 
operate is shocking. The cartels control the borders and are taking 
full advantage of Joe Biden's weak immigration policies.
  Last December, in my home state of Arizona, the Scottsdale Police 
Department and the Arizona Attorney General's Office seized a record 
1.7 million fentanyl pills and 10 kilograms of fentanyl powder.
  During a recent two-month public safety surge, the DEA Phoenix Field 
Division announced total seizures of over three million fentanyl pills 
and 45 kilograms of fentanyl powder.
  Just one fentanyl pill can kill. Yet our open borders remain a 
fentanyl pipeline.
  Instead of securing our southern border to stop the flow of fentanyl, 
Mr. Biden has doubled down on his open-border policies that will only 
worsen the ongoing border crisis and destroy more communities and 
lives.
  Just because Joe Biden ignores the fentanyl crisis doesn't mean 
Congress should. Congress must address the crisis at the border.
  Congress must also take action and permanently place fentanyl-related 
substances in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. The 
emergency class-wide scheduling order for fentanyl-related substances 
is set to expire on February 18, 2022.
  Speaker Pelosi and the Democrats are wrong to allow this order to 
expire.

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