Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said the Biden administration's immigration policies "incentivize crime," especially fentanyl trafficking, and called the prioritizing of transporting illegal immigrants to processing centers over capturing those who enter the country illegally "sheer insanity."
Cameron, the Republican candidate trying to unseat incumbent Democrat Andy Beshear in November's gubernatorial election, raised his concerns in a letter dated Oct. 23 to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
In the letter, which Newsmax obtained, Cameron said the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) "must end its soft-on-crime approach and reinstate effective Trump administration policies to prevent cartels from exploiting the disaster at the southern border."
Cameron noted from April 2020 to April 2021, an estimated 101,078 Americans died from drug overdoses. "It was the first time in United States history that estimated overdose deaths exceeded 100,000 for any 12-month period," Cameron wrote, adding the toll is expected to rise to about 112,000 from May 2022 to May 2023.
"I have grave concerns about how a wide-open southern border is contributing to this crisis and the Department of Homeland Security's failure to mount an effective response," he wrote.
Cameron wrote more than 8 million people have entered the country illegally during the Biden administration, exceeding the population of 38 states and almost doubling Kentucky's population. He wrote that because U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has devoted so many resources "to these unlawful entries, the agency cannot adequately combat fentanyl trafficking."
He cited recent congressional testimony by Rodney Scott, former chief of the U.S. Border Patrol, who said Mexican drug cartels use the massive flow of migrants across the border as a distraction to move massive amounts of fentanyl into the U.S.
Scott also testified "the current administration has directed border patrol to prioritize immigration processing over enforcement."
"In other words," Cameron wrote, "you prioritize 'transporting … aliens to processing centers' over capturing aliens who enter the United States unlawfully. This is sheer insanity."
Cameron wrote under Mayorkas' leadership, DHS has "failed to perform its fundamental duty to 'maintain operational control over the … borders of the United States,' including 'the prevention of all unlawful entries into the United States . . . [and] entries [of] narcotics.'"
"The stakes in stopping fentanyl could not be higher," he wrote. "Our faith in your leadership of DHS, and DHS' response to this attack on our communities, could hardly sink any lower. Get control of our borders. And stop allowing people and drugs to cross unlawfully."
Newsmax reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
EDITOR'S NOTE: A previous version incorrectly stated the date of the letter sent to Mayorkas.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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