(The Center Square) – Reflective of building momentum that all states have become border states, the Democratic attorney general from North Carolina wants help from Congress to stop the flow of fentanyl at the southern border.
Josh Stein, a gubernatorial candidate, penned a letter to majority and minority leaders of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives – respectively, Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Reps. Mike Johnson, R-La., and Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.
In it, Stein writes “the tide of illicit fentanyl flowing across our borders” could be prevented in part if equipment already purchased with taxpayers’ money was installed and used.
Stein says Non-Intrusive Inspection, also known as NII, would enable the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents to “X-ray a higher percentage of cars and trucks using massive drive-through screeners at the border.”
Elected politicians of both major parties from coast to coast and border to border in the past 12 months have said in some fashion “every state is a border state” when talking about immigration.
Blame, too, spreads. Even the White House shifted its stance from denying an open border policy to blaming Republicans for more than 11 million illegal crossings since the Biden administration’s inauguration.
Stein, relying on a network news report, says he is “dismayed and disheartened” knowing some of the equipment needed is already purchased. He’s asking Congress for $300 million, saying that’s what is needed to get the equipment installed.
Stein writes, “As more than 150 Americans die each day from fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, this is no time to play politics with border security. Too many lives are at stake.”
The letter is dated the same day, Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with Texas’ Republican attorney general to begin charging people who come into the state through illegal means.
It’s also the same day Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, from Ramstein Air Base in Germany, pledged American support for Ukraine in its war against Russia, and one week after $300 million in weapons was found through contract savings and sent to the war-torn country.
Depletion of U.S. weaponry to help in that war has put the nation in need of $10 billion to restock, according to published reports.