ICYMI: Johnson Releases Border Report

Statement

Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) released a 100 + page report on the state of America's borders last Monday, Nov. 23, while in Phoenix holding a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on the increasing threat of heroin and illicit narcotic trafficking across the Arizona border.

Monday's hearing marked the 13th held by the committee on border security and the second focused on America's heroin epidemic. "These topics are closely related," Johnson said in his opening statement, "as one root cause of our unsecure border is America's insatiable demand for drugs."

Johnson's border report provides a summary of findings from the committee's border security hearings, as well as a primer on key border security issues and recommendations for "first step" reforms that could begin improving security at our borders. The committee has already begun crafting and passing a number of these initial reforms. Six bills related to border security have been reported out of committee, one of which was recently signed into law.

"America's borders are not secure," the report reads. "This current state of affairs is clearly unacceptable. A secure border is not only a prerequisite to a functioning legal immigration system, but it is essential to maintaining national security and protecting public health and safety."

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