NEW YORK, N.Y. – U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) called on President Joe Biden to keep Title 42 in place and lock up those responsible for pushing fentanyl into American communities. 

Fentanyl Dealers And Drug Cartel Members Need To Be Locked Up

“I was talking with one of my sheriffs in Northwest Tennessee and he said, ‘Marsha, 80% of the drugs we apprehend are either fentanyl or it's something laced with fentanyl.’ They're even taking gummy bears and rolling them in fentanyl. And this is how they're going after younger children that they can addict to this. 80% of the deaths in some of our counties are fentanyl related, 80% of the overdose deaths. But Harris, these people ought to be locked up. They are causing people to lose their lives. They're actively selling these drugs. And the bad thing is these are cartel groups that are pushing this. They have set up their hubs in our cities, a lot of these sanctuary cities, and they're working on our soil and they all ought to be locked up.”

Lifting Title 42 Abandons Our Border Patrol Officers

“We are very concerned right now, 6,000 people per day is about what the border patrol is dealing with. When Title 42 goes away, they anticipate that it will be 18,000 a day. So look at that from 6,000 to 18,000, the cartels are global organizations. Last year, they brought people from 160 different countries to our southern border. Among that you had about 40 known terrorists that were apprehended. So Harris, this is what the border patrol is dealing with. And this is why for 30 years, they have been saying, we need three things: we need a wall, we need better technology, and we need more officers and agents on the ground. They thought they were going to get that wall. They're not. Now Title 42, Remain in Mexico. Things that helped them to stave off the influx of illegal entry, whether it's drugs, whether it's human trafficking, gangs, sex trafficking, now that is going away.”

Biden’s Inaction Caused The Baby Formula Crisis

“54% of the baby formulas are out of stock in Tennessee. And you know, we have been saying for weeks to the White House, give some waivers to import from Canada, EU, UK, and they chose not to do that…Then you look at the factory in Michigan and Harris, they could have opened that. The FDA could have opened that because they knew back in February, we were at a 25% outage rate nationwide. They could have taken care of this. That one factory makes 40% of all the baby formula in this country... What does this administration do? They wait for a problem to become a crisis. They make the wrong decision. And then they have to come back and try to fix it, which is what they're doing now with the waivers and with the defense production act. This never needed to happen. We have two children in Tennessee that have been hospitalized for lack of formula. Every time I talk with some of these parents, it is very emotional.”