Today, the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held an oversight hearing on how the Biden administration's failed border policies have allowed violent cartels to infiltrate and ravage rural tribal communities in remote locations far beyond America’s Southern border. Subcommittee Chairman Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) issued the following statement in response:

“Joe Biden’s open border policies have had detrimental effects on Indian country, with drugs and cartels infiltrating these communities at an alarming rate. As lawbreakers surge across our southern border, they often bring with them illicit substances and ties to drug cartels, leading to increased substance abuse, addiction, and violence while jeopardizing the sovereignty of these communities and further undermining the autonomy of Indigenous people.”

Background

President Joe Biden’s failed immigration policies have made every community a border community as illegal migrants and criminals spread throughout the country. International criminal cartels take advantage of the President’s weak and ineffective border policies to traffic massive amounts of illegal drugs, as well as people, across the porous U.S./Mexico border.

Biden’s open-border policies are to blame for this historic crisis at the Southern border that has allowed international criminal cartels to expand and thrive across our nation. The criminal cartels openly exploit the crisis at the border to traffic some of the most dangerous substances, including fentanyl and methamphetamine, into the United States. Taking advantage of the Biden administration’s flawed border policies, criminal cartels blatantly target Indian Country, in states far from the Southern border, such as Montana and Wyoming. The cartels single out these areas due to the higher prices illicit drugs will command in these areas as compared to other parts of the U.S., the vast expanses of rural and often unpatrolled lands, as well as ongoing jurisdictional concerns that complicate law enforcement responses. The President has allowed the border crisis to continue and result in increases in overdose deaths and organized crime as cartels maintain and expand their foothold in Indian Country.

Today's hearing was a chance for members to hear from tribal leaders, learn more about this ongoing crisis, and discuss potential solutions to curb this catastrophe. To learn more, click here.