Republican Florida Rep. Kathryn “Kat” Cammack told Fox News that she is “terrified” of the border crisis’ effect on other parts of the nation.
Cammack, who recently visited the United States-Mexico border, revealed her thoughts on the crisis in an interview when discussing Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ statement during a Monday news briefing, following his visit to the border near Texas.
DeSantis said that the effects of the border crisis weren’t just limited to the border states — Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California. Rather they could be felt in areas as far from the border as Florida.
“They’ve made over 2,000 apprehensions, over 100 felony arrests, and they say that almost 70 percent of everybody that they have interdicted said their ultimate destination was the state of Florida,” DeSantis said during the briefing.
“If you think that having a wide-open border 1,000 miles, however far it was, away doesn’t affect here, you’re wrong.”
“This has big implications for our schools, our social services, all those other things,” DeSantis told Fox News.
Cammack said the border crisis is “something that keeps me up at night, that should keep every American up at night.”
“In the face of this border crisis, every single town in America is a border town.”
The issue is not just the undocumented migrants captured and then let into the country, Cammack said, but a potential rise in narcotics and crime that she believes is linked to the inflow of illegal immigrants.
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“If you look at the narcotics that have been confiscated at the border, it’s enough to kill every man, woman and child in the state of Florida nine times over — just this year. And that’s just fentanyl. This is a crisis of epic proportions,” Cammack said.
She said that when she returned to her district from the border with six sheriffs from her jurisdiction, “they are already seeing people being placed. They’re seeing an increase in crime from the actions of this administration.”
The number of deaths from drug overdoses is going to “skyrocket” as a result of the border crisis, Cammack said.
Authorities have taken 1,277,722 enforcement actions as of last month this fiscal year at the border, as The Western Journal previously reported. In June, the number of attempted illegal crossings increased by 5 percent from the already alarming numbers in May.
“We are in the hottest part of the summer, and we are seeing a high number of distress calls to CBP from migrants abandoned in treacherous terrain by smugglers with no regard for human life,” acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Troy Miller said.
The actions and the inaction of the Biden administration have largely been blamed for contributing to the worsening of the crisis, which began over six months ago.
Several law enforcement officials have accused President Joe Biden’s administration of making it unlawfully difficult for border security officials to carry out their work protecting the country.
According to a Tuesday report from Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin, Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is so frustrated with Washington’s response that he’s reportedly considering building Texas’ own fence at the southern border.
Cammack described the situation at the border as an “expensive welcoming party” where everyone is allowed — so long as they’re not Cuban.
In mentioning Cuba, the representative was referring to a statement made last week by U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, who said that the Biden administration will not let Haitians and Cubans trying to seek refuge in the U.S. by coming from sea into the country in.
“You cannot begin to protect your hometowns if we can’t defend the homeland, and that starts with border security,” Cammack said.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
