South Dakota IS a Border State
By Rep. Dusty Johnson
February 9, 2024
Every state is a border state. South Dakota is no exception.
While on a drug trafficking trip, an illegal immigrant and his companion, both from Central America, carjacked and kidnapped an FBI employee outside of Red Shirt in West River. One of the men had re-entered our country after being deported. President Biden’s open border policies have allowed illegal immigrants to enter and re-enter our country and commit heinous crimes. Unfortunately, this isn’t the only time South Dakota has seen crime like this.
The effects of the border crisis are hitting way too close to home for many in South Dakota who are more than 1,000 miles from the southern border. We’ve seen increases in violent crimes, fentanyl overdoses, and illegal immigrants flooding cities that don’t have capacity to house them.
In the past three years, more than 7 million people have crossed the southern border illegally. The situation has worsened almost every month. This is the direct result of having open borders. This is a major problem, but we already know what some solutions are, like Trump’s effective Remain in Mexico policy which I support. If President Biden put it in place today, illegal border crossings would decrease by 70-80 percent almost immediately.
I’ve voted over 70 times for stronger border policies since I came to Congress. I’ve worked on and helped draft legislation that includes some of the strongest border policies ever brought before the House. These policies would stop the flow of illegal immigrants, restart construction of the border wall, hire more Border Patrol agents, and improve technology along the border. I voted in support of the Secure the Border Act, HALT Fentanyl Act, POLICE Act, Schools Not Shelters Act, and more.
I’ve been to the border and know how disastrous the situation is. The Senate and President Biden need to enact these bills the House has passed – and they need to do it soon. You can’t have a safe and secure nation if you don’t have safe and secure borders.
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One thing I would like to see our Representatives in Washington D.C. (Dusty, Mike, and John) do is come up with legislation to disallow ballot harvesting in any state. I believe in states’ rights but when there is a national race for President and the U.S. legislature, those people elected in those states represent all of us in the United States. When other states cheat, they cheat on the entire nation. We need new legislation very soon! It needs to cover more than ballot harvesting, including showing a legal ID in order to vote and specific explanations of various ways to vote illegally. Absentee voting is made for those who cannot vote in person and that should be the only way to vote by mail, through the U.S. post office. Otherwise, vote in person on election day. Election integrity is very low among a certain party. We need action now from our elected Representatives. Maybe it starts with the state legislators making those laws for South Dakota and then encourage other states to follow suit.