Republican Rep. Mike Collins said he will halt all immigration into the US until the southern border is “safe” and questioned why President Biden is announcing a reduction in border crossings.
“I would impose an immigration moratorium,” the Republican newcomer from Georgia said in an interview with . “I would like to do that immediately, until we have secured the border.”
Collins, along with Democratic Rep. Yadira Caraveo, Colorado, was the lead author of legislation that the House of Representatives unanimously passed designed to advance research to combat the growing presence of the powerful animal tranquilizer Xylazine, also known as Tranq.
Republican Rep. Mike Collins said he will halt all immigration into the US until the southern border is “safe” and questioned why President Biden is announcing a reduction in border crossings
Migrants attempting to enter the United States from Mexico approach the site where workers are assembling large buoys to serve as a border barrier on the banks of the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas, Tuesday, July 11, 2023
Now the Senate will take up the bill with amendments before the House of Representatives will vote on it again before it goes to the President’s desk.
The bill directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to conduct research on Tranq and other novel synthetic drugs, develop new tests for detection, and establish partnerships with frontline facilities that are often the first points of contact with new street drugs.
“Because the border is wide open, it has been a major source of drugs entering our country for decades,” Collins said. “Now that marijuana is no longer a lucrative product for the cartels because America has legalized marijuana, they’ve moved to harder drugs like fentanyl-spiked opioids.” And now they’re mixing fentanyl with other additives where narcane isn’t effective.’
But the number of people trying to cross the border has dropped dramatically. The Department of Homeland Security issued a press release last month saying the number of people attempting to cross the border has increased since the expiry of Title 42, the pandemic-era health regulation that called for immediate deportation dropped by over 70 percent. This number does not include those who evade border detection.
The Biden administration attributed this to the “implementation” of a plan that cracked down on illegal migration routes and expanded legal migration opportunities.
Collins doesn’t buy it.
“Title 42, that’s not the problem.” “The problem is that the border isn’t secured.”
“I think no matter what they’re promoting, all you have to do is go to the border and see for yourself,” the congressman said.
“You’re going to see the flood of people that’s still coming across.” You’re going to see the ranchers and get up every day and the first thing they do is walk across their land to see if there are any dead migrants who are the border and make sure there are kids out there roaming homeless. ‘
The Drug and Enforcement Administration (DEA) has reported skyrocketing levels of xylazine detections. In the southern region of the country, detection doubled and tripled in 2020 and 2021.
Horrifying images are emerging of addicts in US cities taking drugs mixed with narcotics and developing large open sores prone to infection, and of people in “zombie-like” states.
“I would impose an immigration moratorium,” the Republican newcomer from Georgia said in an interview with . “I would like to do that immediately, until we have secured the border”
In addition to rotting flesh, which can lead to amputation, Tranq can also cause a dangerous drop in heart rate and respiratory rate.
Federal officials have released a new strategy they hope will reduce xylazine-related overdose deaths by 15 percent by 2025.
But the drug is already causing thousands of deaths. A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that the number of Americans killed by a flesh-rotting street drug has increased more than 15-fold in the past three years.
According to the report, the number of monthly overdose deaths related to xylazine increased from 12 in January 2019 to 188 in June 2022.
But officials only looked at 20 states plus DC, meaning the true number of cases involving the powerful animal tranquilizer is likely higher.
The drug is also regularly mixed with fentanyl. Synthetic opioids other than methadone — mainly fentanyl — caused 70,601 overdose deaths in 2021, meaning annual deaths from Tranq and fentanyl combined are already around 71,000.
According to the DEA, 808 drug overdoses involving xylazine were reported in 2020. That number jumped to 3,089 in 2021.
Some states have already listed the drug, meaning they have classified it as having “high potential for abuse or addiction,” and the White House is considering listing the tranquilizer at the federal level.
This would result in xylazine being subject to similar regulatory restrictions as opioids and amphetamines.
Efforts to regulate the drug have met opposition from veterinarians, farmers and others who regularly work with the drug and are reported to be using it as a tranquilizer for animals.