Tucson Standard

WASHINGTON – U.S. Congressman Juan Ciscomani (AZ-06) today joined his colleagues in the Congressional Hispanic Conference highlighting the crisis at the southern border and its devastating consequences, which has been aggravated by inaction from the Biden administration.

The Arizona congressman discussed the cartels concerning use of social media to recruit Americans to help with smuggling and human trafficking operations. Ciscomani recently joined his colleagues in introducing legislation to combat this activity by empowering platforms with tools to report the activity while holding cartels accountable. He was joined by fellow conference members Tony Gonzales (TX-23), Mario Diaz-Balart (FL-25), Carlos Giménez (FL-28), Lori Chavez-Deremer (OR-05), and James Moylan (Guam-AL).

Joining the lawmakers were members of the National Border Patrol Council and the Tambunga family, who recently lost their grandmother, 71-year-old Maria, and her granddaughter, 7-year-old Emilia. They were killed last month in a car accident when a smuggler ran a red light while evading law enforcement in South Texas. The smuggler – a United States resident – was going over 100 mph and had 11 illegal immigrants in his truck. He was also reportedly recruited by cartels through TikTok.

 Click here or the image above to watch Ciscomani’s full remarks.

CongressmanCiscomani’s full remarks below:

“Every day in my district, we see the consequences of the border crisis. Unfortunately, stories like the [Tambunga family’s] are not uncommon. The number one cause of death among young people in Pima County – my home county – is fentanyl overdoses.

 “Similar to the Tambunga family, who lost two of their own at the hands of smugglers, parents are losing children to fentanyl trafficked into the United States by the cartels.

 “Now, we started to see cartels recruiting Americans as drivers to help with illicit activity. You heard that's exactly what happened in the example that you heard this morning [from the Tambunga family].  

“Sometimes these drivers are unaware who they're actually working for. Through social media platforms like TikTok and Snapchat, these organizations promise thousands of dollars for only a few hours of work. Then the Americans they recruit help traffic drugs, humans and other contraband across the border. And in many cases, they drive recklessly through neighborhoods at 100-plus miles an hour, with no concern for others safety.

“To end this heinous activity, I introduced a bipartisan bill called the Combating Cartels On Social Media Act. It empowers social media platforms to report suspicious activity online to put an end to cartel recruitment on their platforms. The porous border has emboldened cartels, and that has to stop. This bill is a step in the right direction. But we have so much more work to do.

“That's why I'm proud to join my colleagues here, from both border and non-border states. But this fentanyl crisis has made every state of border state. We cannot stand here and allow the failed Biden administration to continue to allow these kinds of stories to multiply.

“Secretary Mayorkas has failed at his job utterly, and I have been firm on calling for us to continue to hold him accountable. He will be testifying before Congress this week and questioned by our colleagues – and he should have answers.

“I can't imagine what answers he will have to these tragedies. But we will hold him accountable. We will take action in Congress, and we’ll hold this administration’s feet to the fire to take action.”

Issues:Congress  

Original source can be found here.