Alabama doesn’t share a border with Mexico. But the border crisis has turned every state into a border state, and Alabama is paying a steep price for President Biden’s open borders policies.
One of Biden’s first actions as President was to reverse the successful border policies of President Trump, and the result has been a disaster. The border patrol caught 1.6 million illegal immigrants this year. That’s three times the population of Wyoming. And many more made it through without getting caught. This chaos leads to danger from drugs, gangs, and terrorists, turning this into a national security crisis.
The most immediate threat to Alabama from the border is the threat of deadly drugs. Since President Biden took office, our border patrol agents have seized 830 pounds of fentanyl a month. Every two months, enough fentanyl is being stopped at the border to kill every person in America. It speaks to the bravery of our border patrol agents that they are intercepting this much fentanyl. But as the border agents themselves say, they can’t catch everything. As a result, more than 100,000 Americans died of overdoses in the past twelve months — nearly enough to fill up Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa.
This fentanyl is hitting us hard at home. Overdose deaths in Alabama have shot up by more than 20%, and nearly 1,000 Yellowhammer State residents died from overdoses in 2020. In Jefferson County alone, more than 300 died from overdoses. And as anyone in Alabama knows, as tragic as these statistics are, they don’t tell the whole story. I bet that everyone in Alabama knows a friend, neighbor, or member of their church that has dealt with addiction. I know that I do. These drugs cause destruction and heartbreak.
Another threat to Alabama comes from deadly drug cartels. The Sinaloa Cartel is one of the deadliest gangs in the world, and it’s right here in Alabama. In 2019, a Huntsville girl and her grandmother were brutally killed by Sinaloan gang members. Cartel gang members have been arrested in Alabama for dealing meth, mass killings, and other violent illegal activity.
These gangs were indeed present in America before Biden. But Biden’s policies have made the threat much worse. Our border patrol agents are distracted and focused on the mass flood of illegal immigrants, limiting their ability to intercept and investigate dangerous gang members.
Finally, an open border is an invitation for terrorists. Earlier this year, border agents arrested two Yemeni citizens on the terror watchlist. A few weeks ago, border patrol officers in Arizona stopped a man from Saudi Arabia who has connections to terrorist organizations. If we know about these cases, how many more are getting through unnoticed?
These dangers are a major national security threat, but perhaps what is most tragic is this is avoidable. President Trump’s border policies worked. Biden should have left them in place. Instead, Biden prioritized radical political pandering over our national security.
To make things worse, Democrats are proposing mass amnesty that would give citizenship to illegal immigrants. This would reward those who broke the law, and it would be an invitation for others to come here illegally.
As your senator, I will vote against amnesty, and I will immediately work for three key policies to secure our border. First, we need to finish the border wall that President Trump started. He ignored the career politicians who said it couldn’t be done and he built more than 450 miles of a safe and effective border wall. I was honored to help President Trump get the funding for the wall. But we have miles more to go.
Second, I will work to bring back the Remain in Mexico policy. This policy required illegal immigrants to wait in Mexico while their claims of asylum are adjudicated by a court. If an individual has a valid claim, he or she can then enter the United States. But for those without valid claims—the vast majority—they can never enter the United States. This is a much better policy than Biden’s catch and release program.
Finally, we need to bring back deportations of the violent criminals who are here illegally. Joe Biden has effectively ended deportations. This means that violent criminals who are here illegally get to stay here, and it’s a magnet for more illegal immigration.
In 2016, President Trump said it best: a nation is not a nation without borders is not a nation. I believe this is true, and as your Senator, I will fight every day to secure the border.
Katie Britt is a Christian conservative Republican candidate to serve as the next U.S. Senator for Alabama. An Enterprise native, Katie resides in Montgomery with her husband, Wesley, and their two children, Bennett and Ridgeway.
