(John Katz,Editor,The American Dossier)
In a few days, we will be singing in the New Year. Have you made your resolution yet?
We all hold up hope for a resolution that the gridlock to end in DC as the shutdown continues.
Unfortunately, as of this writing, Democratic lawmakers have once again walked away from a potential deal as they will not compromise on wall funding.
Long before present-day debate on immigration there has been an elephant in the living room at the southern border and it is not Donald Trump.
It is something that does not discriminate whether one is an Illegal alien of a natural born citizen.For that matter, it's not even partisan. It is now an epidemic. What I am talking of is an Opioid pandemic. Opioid are being smuggled over the border.
Granted that is not just the southern border but all points of entry have been affected by this crisis which is even more of a reason to increase all border/point of entry security. Here are some staggering statistics:
In 2014, 8 pounds of fentanyl from Mexico was seized by US border agents in the Southwest; in 2015, 200 pounds of fentanyl was seized. From October 2016 to August 2017
In 2016, more than 42,000 people in the U.S. died from opioid overdoses – more than any other year on record, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The toll continues to rise today, claiming, on average, the lives of 91 Americans every single day.
According to a 2017 DEA report, China is a main supplier of fentanyl and fentanyl-related compounds Some of the fentanyl comes straight to the United States from China through the mail. Other shipments come in from China to Mexico or China to Canada before making its way into the United States.
In 2017, about 950 pounds of fentanyl was seized nationwide — and more than half of it (550 pounds) was seized at the San Diego and Tucson field offices on the Mexico border.
Between 2013 and 2017, Border Patrol seized 286 pounds of fentanyl, 3218 pounds of heroin, and 23 pounds of morphine, according to the Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee from May 2018.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids surged from 2013 to 2016. Among the more than 64,000 drug overdose deaths estimated in 2016, the sharpest increase occurred among deaths related to fentanyl and synthetic opioids with almost 20,000 overdose deaths.
Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer have promised they will not appropriate a single dollar toward the border wall when they reconvene in 2019. This is strikingly political strategy perhaps because 75 percent of the federal government remains open there is lack of political urgency.
Byron York, in an article published in the Washington Examiner has factually reminded us that THERE WAS ONCE A TIME Dems supported border security.
“In 2006 Congress passed the Secure Fence Act, which mandated the construction of multilayer pedestrian fencing along about 600 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border. It passed with big, bipartisan majorities: 283 votes in the House and 80 in the Senate.”
“In 2013, Congress pushed The Gang of Eight comprehensive immigration reform bill included something called the "Southern Border Fencing Strategy." It called for 700 miles of at least single-layer pedestrian fencing along the border. It wasn't a standalone measure; the fence was to be part of a broader package of border security measures alongside provisions that would create a process by which the nation's 11 million illegal immigrants would ultimately gain a path to citizenship.With citizenship in the deal — even citizenship that would take a decade to achieve in some cases — Democrats were fully on board for a border barrier.”
“ The Gang of Eight bill passed in the Senate with 68 votes, with unanimous Democratic support. Lets look who was there for that 2013 vote — Schumer, Durbin, Murray, Baldwin, Bennet, Blumenthal, Brown, Cantwell, Cardin, Casey, Coons, Feinstein, Gillibrand, Hirono, Kaine, Klobuchar, Leahy, Manchin, Menendez, Merkley, Murphy, Reed, Sanders, Shaheen, Stabenow, Tester, Warner, Warren, Whitehouse, Wyden —they voted for the bill that included the Southern Border Fencing Strategy.”
So in closing why the change of heart? And can their heart be changed again? We will visit this issue again in 2019 as we come to close and yet another unfortunate cliff hanger of the Government being closed. So this concludes part 1 of a multi-part story.
From all of Us at The American Dossier May you all have a Blessed New year!
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