A former senior Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) official will testify to Congress Wednesday that the Biden administration’s handling of the fentanyl crisis “makes no sense,” according to a copy of his testimony first obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Derek Maltz, former head of the DEA’s Special Operations Division, will testify before the House Homeland Security Committee in a hearing entitled, “Biden and Mayorkas’ Open Border: Advancing Cartel Crime in America” that the Biden administration has failed to aggressively respond to the drug crisis, according to the copy of his testimony. Fentanyl is largely responsible for the more than 100,000 overdose deaths that occurred in the U.S. in 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (RELATED: Top Biden Immigration Official Called To ‘Abolish’ ICE, End Detention Of Illegal Immigrants)
FILE PHOTO: Packets of fentanyl mostly in powder form and methamphetamine, which U.S. Customs and Border Protection say they seized from a truck crossing into Arizona from Mexico, is on display during a news conference at the Port of Nogales, Arizona, U.S., January 31, 2019. Courtesy U.S. Customs and Border Protection/Handout via REUTERS
While the Biden administration has warned of fentanyl’s threat to America, Maltz says they’ve been all talk and no action. Maltz’s testimony references a statement President Joe Biden made to Congress in December 2022 in which he labeled the global illicit trade of drugs an “extraordinary threat to the national security.”
Maltz’s testimony also points to a statement Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas made in March to a Senate panel that the fentanyl crisis is the “single greatest challenge we face as a country.”
“With these types of warnings, where is the appropriate response? What’s the logic when they took over the US leadership and immediately reversed solid Homeland Security policies that were working to secure our country?” Maltz’s statement asks.
The Biden administration’s response to the fentanyl crisis has included its ramping up of detection, interdiction and seizure capabilities at ports of entry along the southern border through initiatives known as Operation Blue Lotus and Four Horseman, Artemis and Rolling Wave. Additionally, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) has sought to increase testing capabilities and treatment services.
In some cases, however, the Biden administration has stopped short on calling on China and Mexico, which are the sources of fentanyl precursor chemicals and fentanyl production, respectively, to address the issue.
“Allowing Mexican cartel operatives and unidentified people from around the world to enter the country illegally at record levels is enhancing the ability for criminals to kill Americans. This is not what the government should be doing to keep us safe,” the copy of Maltz’s statement states.
“You don’t have to be a border or immigration expert to understand that the current administration’s policies related to the border are a recipe for a disaster,” the copy of Maltz’s statement states.
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