[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 5 (Wednesday, January 10, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H20-H21]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     CRISIS AT THE SOUTHERN BORDER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
New York (Ms. Malliotakis) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. MALLIOTAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to highlight how President 
Biden's open-border policies and Senator Schumer's inaction and refusal 
to pass our Border Security Act is resulting in everyday Americans 
dying.
  In 2023, the overdose death rate topped 112,000 individuals, setting 
a new record.
  Fentanyl is still the number one killer of Americans aged 18 to 45. 
Mr. Speaker, 70 to 80 percent of all fentanyl in the U.S. comes from 
the southern border. That is not just me saying it, that is what the 
Drug Enforcement Administration is saying.
  Drug cartels are making $32 million a week smuggling individuals into 
our country. Yes, every asylum seeker, migrant, illegal immigrant, 
whatever you want to call them, that is coming through our southern 
border is paying the drug cartels, who, in turn, then use that money to 
continue to poison our children by selling drugs.
  The DEA seized 384 million doses of fentanyl. That is enough to kill 
every single American. The DEA stated that in December of 2022, most of 
the fentanyl being trafficked was from two cartels, and it is being 
mass produced at secret factories in Mexico with chemicals being 
sourced largely from China.
  In May of last year, the DEA conducted an operation that resulted in 
over 3,000 arrests, the seizure of almost 44 million fentanyl pills, 
more than 6,500 pounds of fentanyl powder, more than 91,000 pounds of 
methamphetamine, roughly 8,400 firearms, and more than $100 million.
  Yes, the DEA is doing a great job, but look at the pressure we are 
putting on this agency simply because the President insists on having 
an open border, and Senator Schumer refuses to do his job.
  We passed legislation here to add fentanyl and all its analogues to 
schedule 1, and he refuses to do it over there. We passed the Border 
Security Act in May, and he has been sitting on it since then. We took 
action to halt and put sanctions on Chinese entities that are 
manufacturing and producing this fentanyl, and, yet again, the Senate 
refuses to take action.

                              {time}  1015

  According to the DEA, Mexican criminal organizations are now the

[[Page H21]]

most prominent wholesale-level heroin traffickers in Chicago, 
Philadelphia, New Jersey, and Washington, and they have a great 
presence in my city of New York.
  Let's talk about New York City. Last year, we saw more than 3,000 
people die from drug overdoses in New York City, 80 percent of which 
were tied to fentanyl. That number has doubled since the New York 
Democrats and the legislature passed the 2020 bail law allowing 
traffickers and dealers to be released automatically back onto our 
streets.
  Look at these headlines: ``Suspects accused of running $7M fentanyl 
ring released without bail''; ``NY's lax bail law lets lethal fentanyl 
peddlers off scot-free''; ``NY bail laws required most of 30 drug 
dealers busted on [Long Island] for peddling `tranq,' cocaine and 
fentanyl to be `automatically released' ''; ``Mexican cartel smugglers 
nabbed with $1.2M worth of meth in NYC--then released thanks to lax 
bail laws''; ``New York man busted with 20K fentanyl pills released 
without bail''; ``Six people busted as part of $7M drug trafficking 
ring in Bronx released without bail under new State law,'' which Kathy 
Hochul and the Democrats refuse to fix.
  The Federal policies of the Democrats, coupled with the policies of 
my State government, have been a complete failure and disaster, and 
Americans are dying as a result.
  Once again, I urge my Governor and the State legislature to do their 
job, and I urge our colleagues on the other side in the Senate to do 
their job. We took action here in the House. We passed multiple pieces 
of legislation, most predominantly the Border Security Act. I expect 
Chuck Schumer to care about what is happening in his own State of New 
York and do the same.

                          ____________________