In the Dec. 27 issue of The Gazette, Ohio’s sanctimonious Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown prattled on about his efforts to protect Ohio from fentanyl trafficking.
Brown’s sense of accomplishment in battling fentanyl trafficking is laughable.
It must be time for Brown to run for reelection because suddenly, he’s concerned about fentanyl. If he was serious about the problem, and it is a huge problem for Ohio and the entire United States, Brown would address the primary reason that we have a fentanyl epidemic in this country, which is our porous southern border.
But he doesn’t.
Not one time in his column does Brown mention securing our southern border. He issues a pathetic word salad about China and Mexico, but refuses to address the problem at the border, which allows fentanyl to freely flow into the country, overwhelms law enforcement, and kills Americans.
The chemicals needed to make fentanyl are shipped to Mexico from China. The cartels produce fentanyl for sale in the United States. It used to be a challenge to get the drugs across the border, but the Biden administration’s policies have turned the border into a sieve for illegal immigrants and illicit drugs. And there is no sign that anyone in this administration is interested in fixing the problem, including the senator.
If Brown is so concerned about fentanyl deaths, why hasn’t he spoken out against lax border security? Why has he not jumped up and down on Biden’s desk, demanding that he protect the border and American lives? It’s because Brown has consistently been in bed with the Biden administration and the policies that are killing more than 300 Americans a day.
Here are some statistics to think about.
• A report from the Centers for Disease Control showed that 112,000 Americans died of fentanyl overdoses between July 2022 and July 2023, and that number is likely to increase as more data is recorded. These numbers are putting 2023 on track to be the deadliest year for fentanyl overdoses in U.S. history.
• According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, in fiscal year 2023, there were 2.48 million encounters with illegals at the southern border, the highest one-year total ever.
• There have been at least 6.2 million illegal crossings at the southern border since Biden took office. That doesn’t include got-aways, so no one knows the real number.
• In December alone, we had a record number of more than 302,000 encounters. That is about the population of Cincinnati.
• Since Oct. 1, there have been more than 785,000 encounters. That is 60,000 more people than live in Seattle.
The border is a mess, and fentanyl overdoses are the number one cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 45. COVID-19, gun violence and automobile accidents all pale in comparison to fentanyl overdose deaths.
But don’t worry, our fearless senator is going to give Mexico and China a stern talking to. The FEND Off Fentanyl Act, he says, would impose new, more powerful sanctions targeting the illicit fentanyl supply chain.
I’ll bet that has the cartels quaking in their boots.
Brown notes that China can’t be trusted and has not followed through on its promises.
Really? Are you saying, senator, that our number one geo-political enemy doesn’t have our best interests at heart and is perfectly fine with pumping poison into our country for profit? I’m shocked!
Brown says he will do “everything” he can to stop the flow of fentanyl into this country.
Obviously, that is not true. If it was, he would have taken steps to secure the border. He hasn’t done that, and now that it’s an election year, don’t expect Brown to do anything about fentanyl or the border crisis, except issue more word-salad press releases.
Donald E. Rankey Jr. is the Delaware County treasurer.
