Republican governors are joining a coalition of states to do a job they say the Biden administration refuses and has failed to do — protecting the country from dangerous illegal immigrants.
The border crisis plagues communities across the nation, they argue. The joint agreement aims to work together to combat the critical activity stemming from problems arising from immigration along the southern U.S. border.
The 26 governors will work together to counteract the growing surge in smuggling and illegal drugs crossing the border, according to the office of Arizona Governor Doug Ducey.
Ducey is a leading member of the movement, saying what is occurring along the border is “the worst border crisis in the last 50 years, and it’s only going to get worse when they lift Title 42,” the Trump-era regulation that stopped immigrants on the basis of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ducey said the new American Governors’ Border Strike Force is modeled after his 2015 effort known as the Arizona Border Strike Force.
Ducey said the governors will come together to work “to share information [and] law enforcement assets so that we can track down cartels and drug activity to not only put the bad guys behind bars, but to eliminate and reduce the number of overdose deaths that are happening in our schools, neighborhoods, and cities.”
The Arizona governor continued, “As governors, we’re doing everything we can. This is the federal government’s responsibility. Our people in southern Arizona and absolutely overwhelmed, as are the federal government’s Customs and Border Protection, law enforcement agents along with the border patrol.
“We need support from the federal government, but they’re averting their gaze. They’ve got an open borders policy, and all of our states are paying for this, specifically our border states.”
A longtime advocate for the restoration of law enforcement along the southern U.S. border, Ducey says the “terrible poison” traveling around America results from President’s administration putting “drug cartels in charge of their border policy.”
Border surges
Referencing a 10-point plan Republican governors introduced last fall, Ducey emphasized that President Joe Biden has failed to take action on the crisis.
“These were the policies that were in place when he came into office,” said Ducey. “Under the Trump/Pence administration, in many ways, the border situation was solved. Joe Biden overturned every one of them willy nilly — all of those things want to reduce the border surges.”
“Joe Biden has announced that our border is open. He’s offered free healthcare in the first Democratic primary debate to people that break the law, and his federal prosecutors have a catch and release policy,” the governor said.
All of this combined has added up to the worst border crisis in the last 50 years, and it’s only going to get worse when they lift Title 42.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott voiced his agreement with Ducey’s plans, saying the Biden administration’s “open border policies have created an ongoing crisis along our southern border and across our nation, with over 1,000 Texans dying from fentanyl last year and a spread of fentanyl deaths throughout the country.”
Abbott continued, “Twenty-five of my fellow governors signed this agreement because it’s clear that this border crisis has significant impacts into communities beyond border states like Texas.
“Through this multi-state agreement, our states will be working collaboratively to disrupt and dismantle transnational criminal organizations by increasing collaboration, improving intelligence, investigating in analysis, combating human smuggling, and stopping drug flow in our states and our nation. While the Biden administration turns a blind eye to the suffering of Americans, Republican governors are leading the way in solving border problems.”
The Biden administration said it would end Title 42 on May 23. The policy, put in place in March 2020, allows U.S. officials to block migrants from entering the country during health crises.
