The Shadow
The fentanyl problem in America is like a rattlesnake that has no rattlers, just venom.
From 1999 through the present, overdose deaths in the U.S. from illicit drugs and prescription opioids have more than doubled according to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).
In the U.S. in 2020, synthetic opioids other than methadone (most often fentanyl) accounted for 56,516 reported overdose deaths.
Tied to the fentanyl problem are the cartels on the Mexican side of the U.S. southwest border that stretches from the southern-most tip of Texas to the Pacific, 1,933 miles with only 700 miles of walls that stretch between the two nations.
The soutwest border has become an entry point for smugglers, illegal aliens, drug runners, human sex traffickers, unaccompanied minors who are often abused by criminals in addition to those immigrants legitimately seeking asylum.
Recently, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, speaking on TV following the U.S. Border Patrol’s agents rescue of two young girls who had been raped and left for dead by the cartels, blamed the Biden administration’s open border policy for creating the worst form of slavery since the American Civil War.
Cruz stated that the cartels charge outrageous prices to transport immigrants across the southwest border, and the male teenagers who become indebted to the cartels then become pawns of the cartels throughout America where they are involved in criminal activities while the female teenagers serve as sex slaves of the cartels.
More than 3,000,000 people from more than 150 nations have crossed the southwest border since the “Stay in Mexico Policy” was lifted.
More than 250,000 “get-a-ways” in a single year have been reported at the southwest border as well, and a number of individuals who were on the terror watch list have been apprehended crossing the soutwest border, giving rise to the question: “How many of those “get-a-ways” are on the terror watch list?”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has responded to the flood of illegal aliens into Texas by busing them to Washington D.C. where Mayor of District of Columbia Muriel Bowser has complained about the influx and pleaded to the Biden administration for resources to deal with the problem.
The problem with the catch and release policy that gives those crossing the southwest border a court date before flying them to cities across America is that a high percentage of them never appear for their day in court.
Therefore, the nation, that already had a homeless problem with many veterans sleeping under bridges, has now added more than three million people, approximately one percent of the U.S. population to assimilate.
One illegal immigrant who lied about his age, claiming to be a teenager, wound up murdering the man in Florida who provided him with a home.
Other crimes by those waiting for their court dates have been committed, including the killing of citizens by drunk drivers.
In the fiscal year of 2021, 273,000 get-a-ways were reported by the U.S. Border Patrol, and a historic high of crossings of the southwest border by illegal aliens was reported at more than 2,000,000.
With the surge of illegal aliens known to benefit from euphemisms to become illegal immigrants and undocumented workers crossing the southwest border in 2022, the U.S. Border Patrol has encountered record numbers thus far, and officials predict that more than 3,000,000 illegal immigrants will cross the southern border by the end of 2022.
What does that mean for citizens of America?
The new arrivals who show up to court and are permitted to stay may become a positive force in the U.S., but what percent will meet their legal obligation and show up in court remains the question. Those who choose not to meet their obligation in favor of living in the shadows will continue to be in the U.S. illegally. What does that say to those who are waiting in line after applying legally to enter the U.S.?
As for the humanitarian protection that the Biden administration vowed to provide, somehow a tractor trailer managed to enter the U.S. with more than 60 illegal immigrants inside, and when the truck broke down, the driver abandoned the truck with 54 of those inside dying from the excessive heat, 53 inside the truck that had no air-conditioning and one who died at the hospital after being rescued.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas continues to maintain that the southwest border is secure, yet more bodies are being found abandoned near the southwest border than ever before and a historic high number of get-a-ways challenge his assurance.
An old Appalachian saying comes to mind, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
With that in mind, I point to 2021 and the more than 1,000,000 illegal immigrants from other countries than Mexico were taken into custody at the southwest border that definitely needs fixing.
One thing for sure is that the U.S. has a major problem in keeping its citizens safe from those entering our country illegally because the TSA, the U.S. Border Patrol, the U.S. Coast Guard, ICE and U.S. Customs officials all have next to impossible jobs, protecting 95,471 miles of coastline as reported by NOAA in 2021.
To put it all into perspective, the U.S. military suffered 58,220 casualties during the Vietnam War from 1955 till 1975 compared to the 56,516 thousand who lost their lives via overdosing last year, mainly by using fentanyl added to other drugs.
Much of the fentanyl came from China to Mexico where it was smuggled across the southwest border that must be secured in order to win the “War on Drugs” that President Richard Nixon declared in 1971 after citing the abuse of drugs as the nation’s number one problem.
Securing the southwest border remains a necessary step in solving the overdosing problem spiking in America, and from all statistics available, the U.S. appears to be losing the 51-year-long War on Drugs.
