LANSING, Mich. — Sen. Joseph Bellino sent a letter Tuesday to Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks encouraging her to hold a hearing on his resolution addressing the escalating border crisis and its impact on local communities in Michigan and throughout the country.
“The Biden administration’s failure to enforce immigration policies has allowed fentanyl to saturate our communities and claimed the lives of too many Americans,” the letter states. “This issue is deeply personal to me. I, myself, know six people who have died of fentanyl overdose. This unprecedented border crisis is endangering all our communities, and we need immediate action to keep our state and our country safe.”
According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, illicit fentanyl is primarily manufactured and smuggled into the U.S. through Mexico. In 2023, more than 27,000 pounds of fentanyl was seized at the border — an 860% increase compared to 2019.
“This shouldn’t be a partisan issue,” said Bellino, R-Monroe. “My resolution mirrors a bipartisan resolution recently approved by Congress urging the Biden administration to utilize its existing resources to resolve the border crisis and protect all Americans. If Congress can address this in a bipartisan manner, then surely the Michigan Senate can do the same.”
Senate Resolution 98 denounces the open-border policies of the Biden administration, condemns the resulting national security and public safety crisis, and urges the president to reverse his failed open-border policies.
Bellino’s letter also notes, “Since February 2021, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has had more than 100,000 encounters with illegal immigrants along the southwest border each month, with that number surpassing 300,000 in December 2023. The significant increase in encounters with known and suspected terrorists along the border is also extremely concerning and underscores the severity of this crisis.”
###