WASHINGTON, DC- Congressman Pat Ryan proposed an amendment to the pending immigration bill to add $800 million to stop the flow of fentanyl at the Southern Border. This includes funding for additional illicit-drug inspection equipment, additional intelligence analysts, and canine units to increase the percentage of incoming passenger vehicles searched at the border, new operating labs at ports of entry to accelerate the identification of narcotics seized, and expanding a program to seize currency, weapons and contraband that is flowing to transnational criminal organizations in Mexico.
“As Ulster County Executive, I declared a public health emergency in response to the fentanyl epidemic in our region and helped lead the largest illicit drug seizure in County history. Now we need to take federal action – fentanyl is taking too many lives and destroying too many families in the Hudson Valley,” said Representative Pat Ryan. “It is absolutely unacceptable that the pending border legislation doesn’t even include the word ‘fentanyl’ one single time. I hope the leaders of both parties will recognize the crisis we are facing and add this crucial amendment to H.R.2.”
