Tester Says Improved Security Needed On Borders

By Bill Vander Weele

During a call with Montana media members on Thursday, May 5, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont, said that increased drug use, especially fentanyl, throughout the nation including Montana is on the minds of national legislators.

The senator noted that federal grants assist local law enforcement agencies with the fight against drug abuse.

“There are a lot of talk that it’s coming from our Southern Border, and it’s true,” Tester said.

He added that the drugs are coming into the nation through cars and trucks. “Smugglers are very creative,” Tester said. He stressed the importance to provide the technology and manpower required to examine these vehicles.

Tester said drugs smugglers will find the weakest link, so security also needs to be increased on the Northern Border.

“We need more personnel on the borders, bottom line,” Tester said.

In late April, Tester cosponsored two bipartisan bills to increase the recruitment and retention of Customs and Border Protection officers and U.S. Border Patrol agents. Tester’s Securing America’s Ports of Entry Act will require CBP to hire additional agents to meet staffing needs, and his Border Patrol Pay Security Act will increase overtime pay for Border Patrol agents.

The Department of Homeland Security currently reports a significant shortage of CBP officers across the country. While the size of the staffing shortage has decreased in the last year, DHS has reported an increase in both trade and immigration during that same time.

The Montana Highway Patrol found nearly 3,800 fentanyl tablets in 2021, while fentanyl arrests were up 1600 percent from 2020 to 2021 — from one to 17. Through March 15 of this year, Montana Highway Patrol troopers have already seized 12,079 fentanyl pills — more than three times the total for all of 2021.