Ted Budd Warns Of 'Dangerous Shift' Of Drug Trafficking From Mexico To Canadian Border

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During remarks on the Senate floor Wednesday, Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) spoke about the trafficking of fentanyl across the US-Canada border, which makes up roughly 1% of all fentanyl brought into the United States.   Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript   Stay Connected Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com

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00:00Senator from North Carolina.

00:02Mr. President, the fentanyl epidemic has touched nearly every American.

00:08Whether it's a family member, a friend, a neighbor, a co-worker,

00:12we all know someone whose life has been affected by the tragic reality of this crisis.

00:17It's widespread, it's devastating, and it can't be ignored.

00:22For too long, this crisis has been fueled by the chaos at our southern border,

00:28and now it's happening at our northern border.

00:32Today, I rise to honor the American lives lost to our country's horrific fentanyl epidemic,

00:38and I call on our Canadian allies to shut down these operations before more devastation occurs.

00:46For many Americans, it started with a prescription.

00:49For others, it was a single, accidental exposure.

00:54But for too many, it ended the same way,

00:57with a loss of life and eternal grief that comes from losing a loved one.

01:03The harsh reality is that fentanyl is a leading cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 45.

01:11Not cancer, not car accidents, fentanyl.

01:16Last year alone, as my colleagues have shared with you,

01:19more than 70,000 Americans died from a fentanyl overdose,

01:23and unsurprisingly, the Biden administration failed to act.

01:27Instead, President Biden willingly chose to let the situation get worse.

01:33For years, our southern border has been a major entry point for illegal drugs to pour into our country.

01:39But under President Trump's leadership, illegal crossings at the southern border have now dropped 94%.

01:47That's real progress.

01:49Now, however, we're seeing a dangerous shift.

01:52Drug cartels have found a new route and a new loophole to continue trafficking drugs into our communities,

02:00and it's through the northern border with Canada.

02:03Just last year, Customs and Border Patrol seized enough fentanyl at the northern border to kill 9.5 million Americans.

02:11It's nothing short of alarming.

02:14In fact, a member of Sinaloa's cartel, one of Mexico's largest and most well-known operations,

02:21they openly claimed, they openly bragged, and I quote you this,

02:26quote, Canada's border is much larger than Mexico's.

02:29There are more entry points through Canada than through Mexico.

02:33A lot more entry points.

02:35So that won't stop us, end quote.

02:39And when asked about the impact of fentanyl killing countless Americans,

02:44here's what he said, and again I quote,

02:47Unfortunately, here, for money, we do anything. It's a business. It's a business, end quote.

02:55Friends, killing America is not a business.

02:59We should not be endorsing known criminal activity with an action.

03:03This is nothing short of a serious threat to our national security.

03:09Mr. President, when I talk to sheriffs in all 100 counties in North Carolina,

03:13I repeatedly hear the same message.

03:15Every single county in North Carolina is a border county.

03:20The U.S.-Canada border is the world's longest international border at more than 5,500 miles long,

03:26but it remains extraordinarily vulnerable

03:29as criminal cartel networks continue to take advantage of the gaps of our porous northern border.

03:35I think it's important to know that 87% of all terror watch list suspects

03:40that were encountered at land border ports last year, they came across our northern border.

03:47We have invested heavily in our southern border, and rightfully so, we've done that,

03:53and we should continue to do so at our southern border,

03:56but the northern border has been overlooked and under-resourced for way too long.

04:02Our law enforcement officers, they're doing everything that they can,

04:05but without enough resources, they're being set up to fail,

04:09and that's not fair to them.

04:11We're just watching history repeat itself,

04:13and if we don't act to provide our law enforcement officials

04:16with the proper tools and technology that they need to defend our northern border,

04:21we're going to allow this to get even worse.

04:24What's even more disturbing is that Mexican cartels are now setting up fentanyl labs in Canada

04:31and expanding their role in the global drug trade.

04:37Now, as our ally, we need Canada to step up before more lives are lost,

04:43because the truth is that behind every statistic is a grieving family,

04:50and the American people deserve more than just empty words.

04:55They deserve real action.

04:57The fentanyl crisis will not only continue to strangle our country

05:01until we deal with the threat at our northern border like the emergency that it truly is.

05:08I yield the floor.

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