It’s Time to End the ‘Major Incursion’ on Our Southern Border

In addressing the threat of a Russian invasion of the Ukraine last week, President Biden said, “…if it’s a minor incursion [we will] end up having to fight about what to do and not to do etcetera.” While Washington is debating what to do, or not do, to help Ukrainians protect their border, they are failing to address the ‘Major Incursion’ on our southern border by international criminal drug cartels.

We all know that securing the expansive southern border will be a challenging undertaking. Yet, the recent surge in crossings and arrests, coupled with an increase in foreign narco-terrorists, is a reminder of the growing problem at our southern border. Each day, 175 Americans are killed by the drugs that are smuggled by narco-terrorists across our borders. One of the most dangerous is Fentanyl: a synthetic opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin. From 2014 through 2020, nearly 200,000 of deaths involved synthetic opioids. Last year, fentanyl took over 40,000 Americans between the ages of 18 to 45, making it the #1 cause of death for Americans in the prime of their lives.

We know that most of the Fentanyl coming into the U.S. is smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border. We also know that law enforcement needs to adapt, working with intelligence to target money flows both into the U.S. and across the southern border to fund cartels. To that end, last July, ‘Families Against Fentanyl’ sent President Biden a letter calling on him to issue a “WMD declaration for fentanyl…and to allow U.S. national intelligence to play a greater role in assisting law enforcement and empower the Department of Defense to share expertise and technology to improve detection and interdiction efforts.” But the administration has yet to come up with a comprehensive solution to address the crisis at the border.

We Need More Veterans in Congress

The time has passed when Congress and the White House can play politics with the border when so many American lives are in peril. During a recent speech regarding the deployment of National Guard members for Covid duty President Biden said, "We were joking earlier that if you want something done, call the military". It’s no joke, it’s time to call the military to get this done.

We also need to call on our Veteran community to help us bring more Veteran leaders to Congress. The right Veteran leaders, who understand how to manage complex security operations, can bring fresh approaches to this decades-long crisis. They can also guide Congress on the right ways to tap into the U.S. military’s capacity to secure our border, and support counterparts in other countries to disrupt illicit supply chains hunt down the bad guys. Learn how you can help us bring more of this understanding and experience to Congress by supporting Vets4Vet Leadership.