FACT CHECK: Border Security and Crime

Grassley works to keep us safe.

  • We need to restore respect for the rule of law. The President of the United States needs to stand up for the safety and security of Supreme Court justices and the institution of the court. From the crisis at the border to rising crime and the highest number of intentional killings of police since 9/11, it’s no wonder a whopping 84 percent of Iowans think the country is on the wrong track. 
  • What we’re seeing at the border could have been prevented. But on day one, President Biden stopped Trump’s border wall, rescinded Trump’s border security measures and put in place policies that have encouraged millions of migrants to come to America without our permission, too often with tragic results.
  • Last year, Grassley spent two days at the border and met with border patrol officials who said they advised the Biden administration to keep the Trump administration’s border policies in place. 
  • In addition to robust border security and interior enforcement, Senator Grassley uses his seat on the Senate Judiciary Committee to hold the Biden administration’s feet to the fire to enforce the nation’s immigration laws. He also supports a mandatory e-verify system and moving our legal immigration system towards being a more merit-based system. 
  • Additionally, he would consider proposals that would grant legal status to the DACA population, as the young people who were brought to this country through no fault of their own deserve a chance to make a life for themselves here in the United States.
  • Grassley has steered the following bills through the Senate this year to protect our communities at home and the public safety officers who keep us safe: 
    • The Comprehensive Justice and Mental Health Act provides support for mental health courts and peer-to-peer services for qualified veterans; improves emergency and crisis services for mentally ill individuals who are incarcerated and post-prison services to reduce recidivism. 
    • Fighting Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Act to establish mental health services specifically for our law enforcement
    • Invest to Protect Act to boost hiring for local police in smaller communities
    • TBI and PTSD Law Enforcement Training Act
  • As ranking member of the Judiciary Committee and co-chairman of the Caucus on International Narcotics Control, Grassley is working on several proposals to tackle the fentanyl crisis.
    • This includes halting the spread of counterfeit pills containing fentanyl through his bipartisan Stop Pills that Kill Act.
    • Grassley also recently introduced the Combating Violent and Dangerous Crime Act, which would outlaw the marketing of candy-flavored drugs, like rainbow fentanyl, to minors.
    • To deter this criminal activity, Congress needs to extend the authority designating fentanyl-related substances as a Schedule I drug.
      • Grassley worked to extend this authority before it expired in March, but Democrats blocked it. He sought to extend it again in September and was blocked by Democrats.
      • It’s worth asking, does Mike Franken support designating deadly fentanyl-related substances a Schedule 1 drug? Or would he put party over people?

Mike Franken puts his liberal agenda over our security.

  • Franken often says the border wall is “idiotic” and says it is not a crime to cross the border illegally. 
    • It wasn’t so long ago that members of both parties understood that walls and barriers are an effective way to help secure the southern border. It’s common sense. 
    • That’s why Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Chuck Schumer all voted for the Secure Fence Act of 2006. That bill authorized hundreds of miles of additional fencing on the southern border, passed the Senate 80-19 and was signed into law by President George W. Bush. 
  • With a wide open southern border, just like Mike Franken wants, dangerous drugs like fentanyl are pouring across and poisoning our communities. It’s now the leading cause of death among Americans ages 18 to 45.
    • And it has hit close to home, right here in Iowa. Five people were recently charged with conspiracy to distribute fentanyl in Cass and Shelby counties. In May, a Sioux City man was arrested after police found 1.5 pounds of fentanyl-laced pills. Nearly a year ago, a young Iowa student overdosed and died after unknowingly taking a counterfeit pill laced with fentanyl.
    • According to the Iowa Department of Public Health, over 80 percent of overdose deaths in Iowa last year were fentanyl-related.

This is a matter of national security and public safety. Yet Franken shrugs off border security as “idiotic” without offering any solutions. The Biden-Franken border agenda is reckless and irresponsible.

Mike Franken coaches Democrats not to say “defund the police” – he calls it “reapportionment of funds.” 

  • If Mike Franken had his way, Iowans would be less safe. In times of historic crime sprees, Americans need more cops on the beat, not fewer. Franken said the quiet part out loud. And this dangerous rhetoric is exactly what has emboldened criminals and allowed crime rates to soar across the country.

BACKGROUND:

  • Since President Joe Biden took office, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has experienced more than 3 million encounters with people crossing our border without permission. The number of illegal border crossings we’ll see in FY2022 will be the highest in recorded history. 
  • Illicit fentanyl that’s flooding across the southern border is fueling a spike of overdose deaths in Iowa, and has become the leading cause of death among Americans, ages 18-45. Joe Biden’s failed border enforcement policies have emboldened Mexican drug cartels, which are responsible for the vast majority of fentanyl trafficked in the United States.
  • Murder is up 30 percent. 
  • More law enforcement officers were intentionally killed in 2021 than any year since the disaster of 9/11. 

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