Britt: Fentanyl crisis begins at the border – 'It's flooding the country'

Last week, U.S. Senator Katie Britt spoke to a panel of seasoned law enforcement professionals and an award-winning country music singer on a subject they are all firsthand witnesses to: The growing crisis of Fentanyl in America.

Britt opened her remarks by raising an urgent call to address the national security, humanitarian, and economic crisis at the United States’ southern border — a situation she believes exacerbates the influx of fentanyl into communities nationwide.

Britt noted there were over 112,000 overdoses in 2023, all representing real people with their own individual stories of pain, tragedy, and loss.

She outlined numerous policy solutions contained in over 15 pieces of legislation she has sponsored or co-sponsored, aimed at resolving the border crisis.

“We need to secure it with personnel, more personnel, physical barriers, technological barriers; we’ve got to fix the broken asylum process; we have got to stop the abuse of parole, bolster interior enforcement, execute final orders of removal, end Catch and Release, put back in Remain in Mexico – we owe it to the citizens of our great nation to secure it, and to help stop the flow of fentanyl.”

Britt said the massive flow of fentanyl is more than just a national security crisis.

“Make no mistake – this is a national security crisis, an economic crisis, and a humanitarian crisis. The human costs … are absolutely heart-breaking and gut-wrenching. The massive influx of fentanyl into the United States has left no community untouched.”

“The day after Christmas, law enforcement in the state of Alabama seized enough fentanyl from two individuals in North Alabama to kill every single person in our state’s two largest cities (combined). You start to think about that and the impact of that, just in one seizure.”

The Senator delivered some shocking statistics as well.

“Over 379 million doses of fentanyl were seized across America in 2022, enough to kill every single American, or every single Alabamian 75 times over,” she said. “The results of this poison – it’s flooding our country and we see what’s happening, it’s clear – there were more than 100,000 overdoses, 112,000 to be exact, in 2023, and fentanyl is now the leading cause of death between the ages 18 and 45.”

However, for Britt, the lives lost are far more than just numbers on paper.

“I think it’s critically important that we think about this crisis beyond simple statistics, though,” said Britt. “These numbers all represent real people – they represent pain, they represent tragedy, they represent loss – they all have faces and stories, that are touching every corner of our society.”

Jason “Jelly Roll” DeFord, winner of multiple CMT Music Awards and a Grammy Award nominee, thanked Senator Britt for her remarks. DeFord, who has lost loved ones to the fentanyl crisis, was grateful for Britt’s attention.

“I just want to add to your sentiment that the 109,000 people that died in America last year are people, they are humans,” said DeFord. “Every one of those signified a funeral, a eulogy, a mother, a father, sons, children, cousins, uncles, people just like the people in this room.”

“I think it was really important for you to say that. Thank you for that.”

Austen Shipley is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News