House Freedom Caucus

Floor Speech

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Mr. GOSAR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from North Carolina for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, a study came out earlier this year that said the opioid epidemic today is deadlier than the Vietnam war in 1968. That study found that opioids had cost our country more than 1.7 million years of life. Those are moments of joy, family, and community that are lost irrevocably. And as we move into the Christmas season, it is worth thinking about the millions of American families dealing with addiction and overdose tragedies.

We have done a great deal in Congress to try to fight the epidemic, from beefing up grants, to tougher law enforcement, to fixing the pain medication guidelines, to cracking down on bad actors in the pharmaceutical industry. But we have not addressed the immigration issue, which is central to the crisis.

The book, ``Dreamland,'' written by veteran L.A. Times Reporter Sam Quinones, provides one of the most definitive accounts of how we got to this grim place we are today. It details how Mexican nationals south of Arizona pioneered a new model of drug distribution, decentralized and customer centric, that successfully flooded our towns and cities with black tar heroin just as the availability of prescription opioids was ebbing.

Our porous border was the lynchpin of that model in two ways:

One, it allowed traffickers to be caught by police, to be deported, and to reenter the country, ensuring an unbroken stream of illegal labor for trafficking organizations;

Two, it allowed drug dealers to display their ill-gotten gains at home in Mexico, gaining status in their towns by poisoning our people.

That is above and beyond the simple fact that an insecure border allows massive amounts of drugs to be smuggled into our country.

Make no mistake, we are under chemical attack. Fentanyl is so potent that even a small amount, the equivalent of a few grains of salt, can be lethal. Earlier this year, police seized enough fentanyl to kill 26 million Americans.

Securing the border is a matter of life and death. We have got to build the wall. This amendment that we are talking about here would provide the $5 billion that the President has asked for and ensures that he has the legal authority he needs to get it done.

Let's back the President and the American people here in the House today and put the wall money in the funding bill. It is not going to happen under Nancy Pelosi, that much is certain. Now is the time. This is the bill, and this is the body, and we are at the right place. The American people can't afford any more delay.

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