Restore law and order

Not a day goes by without seeing the devastating consequences of the Left's disregard for the rule of law. Right now, liberal cities are grappling with an unprecedented rise in coordinated mob-style looting sprees, where dozens of criminals band together to steal thousands of dollars' worth of goods and even ATM machines. At the same time, communities all across America -- including in rural areas -- are being overrun with dangerous drugs like fentanyl that cartels are smuggling across our porous southern border.

Over a span of two chaotic nights in Philadelphia in late September, dozens of criminals carried out a heavily coordinated crime spree, robbing and destroying businesses and terrorizing members of the community. It's just another example of how the Left's soft-on-crime agenda is making criminals think they can get away with committing crimes. We've even seen companies fire store employees for simply doing what's right and calling the police to report these crimes. Enough is enough. We need to restore the rule of law and make it abundantly clear that anyone who commits a crime will be held accountable for their actions.

This isn't the first one of these shocking, large-scale robberies to take place. What so many of these crimes have in common is they are taking place in large urban areas where left-wing prosecutors have pledged to not prosecute anyone for committing these crimes. It's basically painting a target on these stores, telling criminals they are sanctuaries for illegal behavior.

But there's another alarming aspect to the coordinated crime sprees: in too many instances, these crimes are helping to line the pockets of dangerous Mexican cartels. The computers, clothes, and jewelry stolen by mobs of criminals are often sold to Mexican cartels, who use their global criminal enterprise network to sell the goods, launder the profits, and funnel money back to Mexico. It's the same criminal enterprise network the cartels are using to make billions off the fentanyl that's smuggled across our open southern border.

It's yet another reason why it's critical to make our border secure again -- just like it was under President Donald Trump. Since October 2022, Border Patrol has already seized more than enough fentanyl to kill the entire population of the U.S. And under Biden, over 6 million migrants have illegally crossed our southern border -- that's more than the entire population of the state of Missouri! Unfortunately, the chaos and lawlessness will continue until Biden takes action to end the crisis he created.

On September 29, I voted for legislation that would make substantial progress in securing the border as a condition of keeping the government open. The bill requires the administration to restart construction of Trump's border wall, increases the number of Border Patrol agents, ends the tactic known as catch-and-release that allows captured illegal immigrants to stay in the country while awaiting a hearing, reforms our asylum laws, and adds new safeguards to prevent unaccompanied children from being subjected to human trafficking.

Whether it's the massive crime sprees or the chaos on the border, Americans are growing increasingly alarmed with the Left's soft-on-crime agenda and complete disregard for the rule of law. That's exactly why House Republicans are working around the clock to advance the policies and legislation we need to make America safe and our southern border secure.

Jason Smith (R-MO) represents the eighth congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives.