WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH), Ranking Member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, issued the following statement after U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released operational statistics showing a record number of border arrests in October as the United States continues to face a crisis at our southern border:
“I am alarmed that the October CBP operational statistics show that our nation saw the worst October on record as the unlawful migration crisis of the Biden administration’s own doing continues. CBP reported more than 164,000 total encounters at the border in October. This includes more than 42,000 migrant family members; more than 108,000 single adult migrants, which comprised two-thirds of all encounters; and more than 12,000 unaccompanied children.
“The surge in illicit narcotics coming over our border also continue to rise, with seizures of fentanyl increasing 42 percent over the last month. As recent CDC data has shown, these illicit narcotics, including deadly fentanyl, are taking a record number of lives in communities in Ohio and across our country. The failure of this administration to control our southern border has resulted in record levels of deadly fentanyl coming into our country, leading to more American lives being lost, families devastated, and which has contributed to the growing strength of Mexican transnational criminal organizations.”
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