Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd highlights the primary concern with illegal border crossers, emphasizing that their intention is to engage in criminal activities upon entering the country.
“All the while, Congress and politicians are engaged in playing games instead of making meaningful changes to the system. It seems that they are waiting for a major explosion or implosion to occur before taking any action. But mark my words, such a situation is inevitable and will soon be upon us.”
According to Judd, he engages in daily conversations with constituents from various political affiliations, including Republicans, Democrats, independents, and unregistered voters. He emphasizes that none of them believe it is acceptable to smuggle fentanyl across the southern border, resulting in the loss of innocent lives. Regardless of their political leanings, no one he speaks to supports the idea of allowing terrorists to enter the country through the southern border to plan attacks against the American people. Judd questions why our elected representatives fail to acknowledge this consensus among the people they are meant to protect.
According to him, the fundamental principle that must be implemented is to strictly prohibit unknown individuals from entering the country.
Last month, Congress received a warning from retired FBI counterintelligence officials regarding the imminent and preventable nature of a terrorist attack. The officials emphasized the grave danger posed by the presence of a large number of young single adult males from hostile nations and regions, whose backgrounds, intent, and allegiances are completely unknown. These individuals may have been encountered by border officials and subsequently released into the country, raising concerns about the significant number of “gotaways,” individuals who have entered the country and managed to evade apprehension.
According to The Center Square, approximately two million individuals have illegally entered the country since January 2021. Despite the administration’s assertions that their policies are deterring illegal entry, the first quarter of fiscal 2024 saw the highest number of apprehensions at the southern border in U.S. history, surpassing 785,000. This figure is greater than the population of three U.S. states.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis have both expressed concerns regarding the potential threat of terrorists and cartel operatives smuggling fentanyl across the southern border with the intention of harming American citizens.
In the president’s first year in office, Abbott claims that fentanyl caused nearly 20 times more fatalities than all the lives lost in terrorist attacks spanning several decades.
Since its launch in March 2021, Governor Abbott’s border security mission, Operation Lone Star, has led to a collaborative effort among multiple agencies in Texas and even Florida. Together, they have successfully seized over 458 million lethal doses of fentanyl. To put this into perspective, this amount is enough to potentially cause the unfortunate demise of every individual in both the United States and Canada.
According to a report by The Center Square, CBP agents have seized enough fentanyl in the first two fiscal years of Biden’s presidency to potentially kill nearly 5 billion people. Furthermore, in the previous year, DEA agents made a record-breaking seizure of more than 77 million fentanyl pills and almost 12,000 pounds of fentanyl powder. This quantity equates to over 386 million deadly doses of fentanyl, which is more than enough to potentially kill every person in the United States.
According to Judd, in the state of Florida, an alarming amount of fentanyl has been confiscated over the past year. He estimates that the quantity seized is enough to cause fatal overdoses in approximately 8 or 9 million individuals. Judd emphasizes that fentanyl, which is being smuggled across the southern border, does not solely impact the border regions but affects communities throughout the entire nation. He highlights the significant increase in seizures, stating that law enforcement used to consider it a major accomplishment to seize just a gram or an ounce of fentanyl, whereas today, they are intercepting multi-kilo quantities.
For years, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody has been urging the president to categorize illicit fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction, citing the potential threat it poses in the hands of terrorists.
The leading cause of death among Americans aged 25 to 45 is the amount of drugs that are not being seized. According to the CDC, there were over 100,000 drug overdose deaths in the United States from May 2020 to April 2021, marking the first time in U.S. history that this number has been exceeded in a 12-month period. Synthetic opioids, particularly illicitly manufactured fentanyl, were found to be involved in 64% of these deaths. The CDC also reported a 279% increase in drug overdose death rates involving fentanyl from 2016 to 2021, as well as a 24% increase from 2020 to 2021.
“But here’s the silent problem that we don’t know,” Judd said. “We don’t know how many terrorists have come into this country over that southern border that have not made any noise yet. But they’re coming here and they’re mustering and they’re planning for the next event and it’s going to occur.”