The Shadow
Making America Safer!
A core tenet of making America safe is securing our land and maritime borders.
That means reversing the Biden-Harris open border policies that unleashed an illegal immigration explosion and facilitated the ongoing fentanyl crisis.
We are less than a full year into the Trump Administration, and border crossings are significantly down compared to the Biden-Harris Administration.
According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), in August of 2023 border encounters at our Southwest Land border hit more than 232,000.
Under Trump for August of 2025?
9,740!
Republicans believe that enhanced border measures means safer American communities! More backup is on the way.
The Department of Homeland Security is preparing to build 10 new miles of border wall in San Diego.
It is one entry point that tends to see heavy levels of illegal immigration.
The new border wall will include 7.6 miles of 30-foot-tall primary barriers topped with anti-climb features.
Funding from this project is a result of the reconciliation bill that Republicans passed this summer. Tens of billions of dollars will go towards projects like this to secure our southern border.
Additional funding is directed to drug interdiction efforts. CBP reported an increase of 9.2% from July to August in the nationwide seizure of cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, fentanyl and marijuana.
A more secure U.S.-Mexico border helps choke off drug trafficking routes that Mexican cartels exploit.
Many of the illicit narcotics the cartels smuggle in, like fentanyl, pose a threat to the health and safety of American communities.
Interestingly, Communist China plays a role in this process.
China sells to those same cartels the precursor chemicals that are used to produce fentanyl.
President Trump has voiced his concerns about China’s role in the fentanyl crisis, and I support his actions to confront China.
The Trump Administration is also aggressively pursuing illicit Chinese vaping products.
Back in April, Republican Attorneys General, including Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, requested formal help from the federal government to combat the rush of illicit Chinese vaping products flooding into the United States.
The rise in illegal, flavored Chinese e-cigarettes that distributors and retailers sell to minors is particularly alarming. Many of these unregulated products sneak into the United States via mislabeled packaging or in a manner designed to evade detection by CBP or other regulatory entities.
This challenge poses a serious health risk to America’s youth.
Officials from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Department of Justice (DOJ) and other agencies faced intense grilling from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle during the Biden era for a lack of enforcement and regulation to shield American consumers from these illicit products.
One FDA official even left the agency because of the agency’s failure to combat China flooding U.S. markets with illegal vapes.
But a new sheriff is in town.
Trump officials in tandem with our law enforcement agencies recently launched a nationwide operation to clean our communities of these illicit vaping products that are distributed and sold at retailers across the country.
Millions of illicit e-cigarettes were recently seized in what is considered the largest-ever seizure of this kind.
Additionally, the FDA has communicated with dozens of importers and entry filers in an attempt to address the flow of these illicit products and protect public health.
In a recent interview with WJLA, FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary said: “This pipeline of illegal Chinese products is now a top priority…”
He further said: “…We have had something called ‘port shopping,’ which means the illegal vapes come in, our FDA inspectors look at them, and then, in the past, I found out that the FDA was putting them back on the ships while the Chinese manufacturers were just going to the next port and a 100% of it was getting in. It was a joke. They were laughing at us.”
Makary told me he is using the FDA’s law enforcement authority to crack down.
More law enforcement actions on this front are expected.
I commend the work to crack down on these products. I encourage them to keep pushing on this issue.
Not only is it important to seize these products, but also to apprehend those responsible and pursue criminal charges when possible.
As Chairman of the Health Subcommittee, I am committed to protecting America’s youth from harmful illicit vaping products.
Whether by land or sea, open border policies do not serve our health, well-being or safety!
I will continue to support actions that help protect America by intercepting drug trafficking and combatting China’s illicit peddling operations.
If you have questions, concerns, or comments, feel free to contact my office. You can call my Abingdon office at 276-525-1405 or my Christiansburg office at 540-381-5671. To reach my office via email, please visit my website at www.morgangriffith.house.gov.
