The president was right when he declared at the State of the Union that “Americans are dreamers too.” But Americans also have nightmares, in the form of the fentanyl and illicit drug crisis (misdiagnosed as a prescription painkiller crisis) resulting from the amnesty “dreamer” policies advanced by the political Swamp.

The definition of political chutzpah is a bunch of politicians promoting 100 pieces of legislation to misdiagnose and “deal with the opioid crisis” while demanding amnesty for all teenagers and drug mules pouring over the border. Twenty-three Republicans have now joined 192 Democrats in signing a discharge petition, which will trigger an automatic vote on amnesty next month. Given that it takes 218 votes to trigger the petition, just three of the numerous remaining RINOs can make it happen.

More dreamers? More drugs

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recently published data on drug seizures for the first seven months of the year, and it shows that drug seizures of all types are through the roof. Not surprisingly, border crossings relative to this time last year have also surged. As the Washington Examiner reported, fentanyl seizures at the U.S.-Mexico border spiked 750 percent for the first seven months of the fiscal year relative to this time last year. Fentanyl, especially when including heroin and cocaine laced with it, accounts for almost the entirety of the current drug overdose epidemic. And as you can see, it’s a border and immigration problem. The drug supply rises and falls with the surge in or deterrence of illegal immigration, particularly the Unaccompanied Alien Children (UACs) driven by the very amnesty promoted by the same members who complain about the “opioid crisis.”

The data shows that since Obama declared open borders during his second term, all drug seizures, including the non-opiate-based ones such as cocaine and methamphetamine, surged. Meth seizures at the border have tripled since the start of Obama’s second term. Thus, this has nothing to do with prescription opioids but rather with the supply of all illicit drugs coming in with border surges and remaining cheap and ubiquitous through the rise of MS-13 distributors and sanctuary cities, ensuring that these networks are not broken up.

In total, the border patrol seized 284 pounds of fentanyl during the first seven months of this year. Remember, just tiny amounts of this drug are lethal. According to DEA, “as little as two milligrams [of fentanyl] is a lethal dosage in most people.”

As we’ve reported in our series on the misdiagnosis of the drug crisis, the level of drugs in this country (and therefore the price and availability) rises and falls directly with the level of illegal immigration because both are orchestrated by the drug cartels. It’s no surprise we are seeing a surge in deadly drugs now. Since the initial “Trump effect” wore off last summer, the number of UAC crossings has increased 370 percent, and the number of family units skyrocketed 695 percent. This is a triple curse because the teens serve as drug mules, diversions for higher-level drug smugglers, and/or new recruits for MS-13, which helps distribute the drugs and sends the money south to the cartels. In all cases, the drug cartels and the terrorist organizations tied in with organized crime benefit tremendously from border migration.

Of the 23 Republicans who have signed the amnesty discharge petition, a number of them voted for a bunch of nanny-state and expensive bills to “combat the opioid crisis” while they stand with ready with the blowtorch of amnesty to turn up the heat on the problem they’re claiming to solve. Reps. Dave Reichert, Erik Paulsen, Tom Reed, and Carlos Curbelo sit on the Ways and Means Committee. Reps. Fred Upton, Chris Collins, Leonard Lance, and Ryan Costello sit on the Energy and Commerce Committee. Energy and Commerce approved 57 bills and Ways and Means passed 7 bills, all treating this as a health care issue so they can distract from the true nature and cause of the problem – their very own border and immigration policies.

MS-13, distributors of drugs, coddled by sanctuaries

This point was driven home yesterday during President Trump’s terrific roundtable on MS-13 with Long Island law enforcement and local victims of illegal immigration. Suffolk County Police Commissioner Geraldine Hart made it clear that the MS-13 crisis, which coincided directly with the rise of the drug crisis in 2014-2015, was all because of the surge of the UACs. As we all know, the UACs surged both in 2014-2015 and during this past year, directly correlating with the promise of “dream” amnesty.

“MS-13 sustains itself by constantly recruiting new members, and particularly minors,” said Hart. “MS-13 members recruit children placed in communities in Suffolk County through the UAC program.” She noted that since 2014, “4,965 UACs have been placed in Suffolk County, making it the largest recipient of UACs in the nation.”

Even Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein found time to break away from his Mueller escapade and attest to the fact that the MS-13 activity he’s seen in Maryland and the D.C. area “was fueled by illegal immigration and particularly by the challenge of unaccompanied minor children.”

Wherever you see DACA, you see a border surge of Central American teens, and wherever you see the surge of teens, you see a surge in MS-13. Now, wherever you see a surge in MS-13, you see a surge in drug supply, not to mention the empowerment of Hezbollah through cocaine and smuggling of Middle Easterners. In a 2013 report, the Texas Department of Public Safety warned of the developing relationships between the drug cartels and the gangs and that the gangs “increase their power and acquire wholesale quantities of drugs at lower prices, while the cartels extend their network of connections deeper into the United States.” This is why DEA Acting Administrator Robert Patterson testified earlier this month at the House Judiciary Committee that "almost all" illegal drug distribution chains in this country contain at least one link that is an illegal alien.

Indeed, in January, 17 gang members were arrested in Long Island for murder, but also for drug trafficking. Congressman Lee Zeldin, who represents Suffolk County, also noted at the roundtable the rise in sex trafficking and drug trafficking coinciding with the rise in MS-13. Acting Assistant Attorney General John Cronan said that there were 2,000 MS-13 members in Long Island and they are “continually being refilled with new emissaries from El Salvador.”

Those “new emissaries” are coming over with drugs because of the very policies promoted by the same people pushing big government and spending policies to destroy health care and obfuscate the true cause of the drug crisis. Thus, the amnesty discharge petition is nothing but an MS-13 and fentanyl petition.

Signers of the petition like to call themselves “moderate,” but there’s nothing moderate about promoting amnesty in this time of danger. While we are still catching our breaths from the MS-13 and drug crisis engendered by DACA in 2013-2015, we are now at the cusp of a new surge. The magnet of “dream” amnesty is so strong that there is now a surge in kidnapping by illegal aliens who are using children to get across the border and remain in the country.

Our American dreams are being snuffed out by the nightmare of MS-13, tens of thousands dead from drugs, and of terrorist smuggling and now kidnappings at our border. These morally challenged Republicans should be shouted down the minute they have the nerve to virtue-signal about an “opioid” crisis or compassion for children.