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<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif"><img width="624" height="147" style="width:6.5in;height:1.5312in" id="_x0000_i1025" src="cid:image001.png@01D8CCF6.5B93BEA0" alt="Graphical user interface, text
Description automatically generated"></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif">September 20, 2022<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><u><span style="font-size:24.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif">One year later: Biden’s denial of border crisis continues<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif">Boise, Idaho – Exactly one year ago, Governor Brad Little and half of the nation’s governors
<a href="https://gov.idaho.gov/pressrelease/gov-little-25-other-governors-request-meeting-with-biden-on-border-crisis/">
issued a joint letter</a> to <span style="color:#202020">President Joe Biden requesting a meeting within 15 days to discuss the crisis at the southern border.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:#202020"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:#202020">Now, 365 days later, the governors are still waiting.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:#202020"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:#212529">“The sustained availability of drugs and the impact from crime related to drug abuse – including property and violent crimes – present
continuing threats to the health and safety of Idahoans. Meth and fentanyl are the most serious and growing drug threats in Idaho, and there is a direct tie to the loose border with Mexico,” Governor Little said. “America’s governors, including me, are STILL
asking the President to talk to us and work with us on solutions to the crisis.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:#212529"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:#202020">Idaho’s growing drug threat is a direct consequence of the loose border with Mexico. Law enforcement reporting shows the supply of illicit fentanyl from Mexico
in the region has become much more prevalent. The majority of officers surveyed reported that investigations involving fentanyl were directly tied to sources in Mexico. Law enforcement reporting shows drugs are primarily transported into Oregon and Idaho from
Mexico through California. Approximately 96-percent of Drug Trafficking Organizations investigated identified Mexico as the source country for drugs trafficked into the region.</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:#212529"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:#202020"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:#202020">The governors’ plea for the President to listen to them last September followed
<a href="https://gov.idaho.gov/pressrelease/gov-little-19-other-governors-call-on-biden-harris-to-act-on-border-crisis/">
another request</a> sent by the Governors earlier last year, which also went unanswered.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:#202020"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:#202020">Following the 15-day period with no response from the Biden administration, the governors released
<a href="https://gov.idaho.gov/pressrelease/governors-detail-their-policy-solutions-to-alleviate-border-crisis/">
10 policy solutions</a> the administration could enact immediately to protect America, restore security, and put us on a path to end the crisis at the southern border. The administration never responded, and the border crisis has only become more deadly and
dangerous for both Americans and migrants in the time that has passed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:#202020"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:#212529;background:white">Governor Little sent a </span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif"><a href="https://gov.idaho.gov/pressrelease/gov-little-details-his-plan-to-help-secure-u-s-mexico-border-and-protect-idahoans/"><span style="color:#007DA3;background:white">team
of specialized state troopers</span></a><span style="color:#212529;background:white"> to Arizona in 2021 to assist with drug interdiction, and he j</span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:#212529">oined half the nations’
governors in <a href="https://gov.idaho.gov/pressrelease/26-governors-announce-creation-of-american-governors-border-strike-force/">
creating the American Governors’ Border Strike Force</a>. He and Attorney General Lawrence Wasden also
</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:#202020"><a href="https://gov.idaho.gov/pressrelease/idaho-joins-lawsuit-challenging-bidens-title-42-border-decision/">joined a lawsuit</a> challenging Biden’s Title 42 border decision.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:#212529"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:#202020">Governor Little also
<a href="https://gov.idaho.gov/pressrelease/u-s-mexico-border-driving-idahos-growing-drug-threat/">
hosted a roundtable with Idaho law enforcement</a> last year to discuss Idaho’s growing drug threat and the connection to the U.S.-Mexico border, and also
<a href="https://gov.idaho.gov/operation-esto-perpetua/">created Operation Esto Perpetua</a> in March to protect our children from drugs. He recommended and the Legislature approved $250,000 to carry out objectives of the initiative. He
<a href="https://gov.idaho.gov/pressrelease/gov-little-directs-1-million-to-fight-fentanyl-now/">
directed another $1 million</a> this summer to fight the deadly impacts of fentanyl.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:#202020"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif"># # #<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif">Please DO NOT REPLY to this message. For press inquiries only, contact the Governor’s press office at (208) 854-3015 or e-mail
</span></i><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif"><a href="mailto:Madison.Hardy@gov.idaho.gov"><i>Madison.Hardy@gov.idaho.gov</i></a><i>.
<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif">To unsubscribe from these announcements, send an e-mail to
</span></i><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif"><a href="mailto:news@gov.idaho.gov"><i>news@gov.idaho.gov</i></a><i>.</i></span><o:p></o:p></p>
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