Dem Rep. Wild: Border Patrol’s Anti-Drug Resources Should Be Increased, ‘Opioid Crisis Does Not Need Any Help’ in Getting Worse

On Friday’s broadcast of C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal,” Rep. Susan Wild (D-PA) said that Border Patrol should have its resources expanded to ensure illegal drugs stay out because “the opioid crisis does not need any help in getting any worse.”

Wild said, “I have to say, first and foremost, that the opioid crisis is absolutely real and by the way, that is an issue that we should be working across the aisle to fix. I am a member of a bipartisan opioid task force that is working very hard on that. Now, in answer to your question about the border, I do not believe that the border is — first of all, I have to say, I think it’s incredibly important that we have safe and secure borders. And we need, in many cases, to expand the resources that Border Patrol has, including the Coast Guard and making sure that we’ve got the right technologies in place to detect anybody that is trying to come across the border, whether it be in a tractor-trailer full of goods, trying to bring illegal drugs, or something like that.”

She continued, “But to suggest that this is because of people who are trying to get across the border because they are coming from dangerous parts of the Northern Triangle, I think, is stretching the truth a bit. And I’m not sure where the statistics come from. But let me just say that I am fully in favor of making sure that we’ve got safe and secure borders. I’m fully in favor of making sure that we expand those resources to make sure that we are keeping out illegal drugs. Because, the fact of the matter is, the opioid crisis does not need any help in getting any worse. And, by the way, it didn’t entirely come from across our borders. There was also a big role that was played by pharmacy early on, in terms of starting the opioid crisis. So, it’s a tragic situation. It should not be politicized and we should dealing with it head-on.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett