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The border disaster hurts Nebraska
News Update

The border disaster hurts Nebraska

Our country is facing a security, drug, and humanitarian disaster at the southern border. But the impacts of this are being felt much closer to home. Since 2021, the Biden-Harris administration’s open border policies have encouraged more than 10 million people to try to cross the border illegally. Violent criminals, suspected terrorists, and deadly drugs like fentanyl have flooded into the country. Even when these people are arrested, the Biden administration often releases many of them into our country. Once released, illegal immigrants can go anywhere in the U.S. As a result, every state, including Nebraska, has become a border state. The consequences can be devastating.

Take the case of Alvaro Gomez-Lopez. He crossed the border illegally in 2023 and settled in Lancaster County. From there, he arranged to traffic an underage girl from Guatemala to Nebraska without her consent. Gomez-Lopez then physically and sexually abused her. She was also forced to work against her will and was not given food for five days. Gomez-Lopez was arrested for his crimes and charged with child abuse and sexual assault. But this horrific situation could have been avoided if we had a secure border.

The open border policy under Biden and Harris allows criminals to re-enter even after they have been deported. That’s what happened to Jorge Miranda-Funes. In 2022, he was convicted of attempted child molestation in Douglas County. After serving his sentence in that case, he was deported to El Salvador. Just a few months later, he crossed the border illegally again and returned to Omaha. For two months afterward, this convicted sex offender roamed Omaha’s streets. Fortunately, law enforcement managed to arrest him before any greater damage could be done. He should never have returned to Nebraska in the first place!

Our border crisis is also allowing record amounts of deadly drugs to enter our communities. In 2022, law enforcement found 10,000 fentanyl pills in the vehicle of Alejandro Berrelleza-Bojorquez and Orlando Castro-Gutierrez. They also found 15,000 pills of a fentanyl analogue and a one-kilogram brick of fentanyl. They were arrested in Dawson County in 2022. The two men will be deported after serving their 76-month prison sentences.

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), one kilogram of fentanyl – the same size as the brick found in Dawson County – can kill up to 500,000 people. That’s more than 25% of Nebraska’s population. Fentanyl is the leading cause of death among young people ages 18 to 45. It’s killing Nebraskans like Taryn Lee Griffith. Taryn was a mother of two little girls. She died in 2021 after taking a counterfeit pill laced with fentanyl.

The Biden-Harris administration’s open border policies do not protect Nebraskans like Taryn and the victims of these other crimes. Instead, they have spent over three and a half years making it easier for criminals to enter our country. America must improve. We must reverse every single failed policy and restore the Trump-era policies that drove illegal border crossings to record lows. That is the only way we can end this border disaster. I fight every day in the U.S. Senate to make this happen. Nebraskans deserve nothing less.

My team and I are here for you. You can reach us anytime by phone at 202-224-4224. You can also visit my website at www.ricketts.senate.gov/contact.

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