EXCLUSIVE: Republican says he would shut down all legal immigration until border is secure – and asks why Biden is boasting about the end of Title 42

Republican Rep. Mike Collins said he would halt all immigration into the US until the southern border is “secure” and questioned why President Biden is touting a cutback in border crossings.

“I would put a moratorium on immigration,” the freshman Georgia Republican told DailyMail.com in an interview. “I’d like to do that now until we get that border secure.”

“With that border wide open, that’s been a major source of drugs coming into our country for decades,” Collins said.

“Now that marijuana is no longer a profitable product for the cartels to transfer, because America has legalized marijuana, they’ve moved on to harder stuff like opioids laced with fentanyl,” he added. And now they’re mixing other additives into fentanyl to where Narcan isn’t effective.”

Migrants trying to enter the US from Mexico approach the site where workers are assembling large buoys to be used as a border barrier along the banks of the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas, Tuesday, July 11, 2023

TThe Department of Homeland Security issued a press release last month noting that the number of people attempting to cross had fallen by more than 70 percent since the expiry of Title 42, the pandemic-era health rule that allowed immediate deportation, in May. That figure does not include those who evade border detection.

The Biden administration attributed that to their “execution” of a plan that cracked down on illegitimate routes and expanded paths for legal migration.

Collins isn’t buying it.

‘Title 42 – that’s not the problem. The problem is that they don’t have the border secure.’

“I think it doesn’t matter what they tout, you just have to go to the border and find it yourself,” the congressman said.

“You will see the stream of people still coming over. You will see the farmers and get up every day and the first thing they do is walk their land to see if there are any dead migrants who have crossed the border and have not taken care of any children wandering homeless. ‘

Collins, along with Democratic Representative Yadira Caraveo, Colo., was the lead author of legislation passed unanimously by the House that would boost research to combat the growing presence of the powerful animal sedative xylazine, also known as tranq. .

Now the Senate will consider the bill with amendments before the House will vote on it again before it reaches the president’s desk.

The bill directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to conduct research on tranq and other new synthetic drugs, develop new tests for detection, and form partnerships with frontline entities that are often the first points of contact with new street drugs .

The Drug and Enforcement Administration (DEA) has reported skyrocketing levels of xylazine detection. In the southern region of the country, detection doubled and tripled in 2020 and 2021.

Horrifying images are emerging of addicts in American cities taking drugs mixed with narcotics developing large open sores prone to infection, and people in “zombie-like” states.

“I would put a moratorium on immigration,” the freshman Georgia Republican told DailyMail.com in an interview. “I would like to do that now until we have that border secure”

In addition to rotting flesh that can lead to amputation, tranq can also cause a dangerous drop in heart rate and respiration.

Federal officials have released a new strategy they hope will reduce deaths from xylazine-related overdoses by 15 percent by 2025.

But the drug is already causing thousands of deaths. A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that the number of Americans killed by a meat-rotting street drug has increased more than 15 times over the past three years.

The report said monthly overdose deaths involving xylazine increased from 12 in January 2019 to 188 in June 2022.

But officials only looked at 20 states plus Washington, D.C., meaning the actual number related to the powerful animal tranquilizer will undoubtedly be higher.

The drug is also regularly mixed with fentanyl. Synthetic opioids other than methadone – mainly fentanyl – caused 70,601 overdose deaths in 2021, meaning annual deaths from tranq and fentanyl combined are already around 71,000.

According to the DEA, there were 808 drug overdoses reported in 2020 involving xylazine. That figure skyrocketed to 3,089 in 2021.

Some states have already scheduled the drug, meaning they’ve classified it as having a “high potential for abuse or addiction,” and the White House is considering scheduling the sedative at the federal level.

This would make xylazine subject to legal restrictions similar to opioids and amphetamines.

Attempts to schedule the drug have faced opposition from veterinarians, farmers and others who regularly work with the drug for its intended use as an animal sedative.