Keystone Today

David McCormick, a U.S. Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, stated that the Biden administration's border policies, supported by his opponent Senator Bob Casey, led to "Laken Riley's murder and 4,000 fentanyl deaths in Pennsylvania." McCormick shared his statement with Keystone Today on June 12.

"Bob Casey has supported Joe Biden's failed immigration policies and has repeatedly voted against legislation that would crack down on sanctuary cities and lock up criminal illegal immigrants," said David McCormick, PA, US Senate Candidate in Pennsylvania. "This failed leadership enabled Laken Riley's murder and 4,000 fentanyl deaths in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvanians are fed up and ready for a Senator who will put their safety and the safety of their children first."

The 2024 Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) National Drug Threat Assessment names fentanyl the deadliest drug in American history, taking the lives of 38,000 Americans in the "first six months of 2023 alone." The Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels have enabled the presence of fentanyl in nearly all 50 U.S. states, producing it in Mexico and smuggling it into the U.S. for profit.

According to Insight Crime, 4.5 tons of pure fentanyl and 434 tons of methamphetamine are produced in Mexico per year "in order to meet the demand of the U.S. consumption market." The chemical components cost between $9 million and $22.5 million for fentanyl and between $83.3 million and $126.5 million for methamphetamine. Investigations show that the chemical precursors to these synthetic drugs have been imported from China through companies such as the Zheng drug trafficking organizations.

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) statistics, CBP has arrested 10,337 individuals with existing criminal convictions illegally crossing to date in FY24.

AP News reported that Laken Riley attended the University of Georgia-Atlanta as a nursing student before transferring to Augusta University. On February 20, Riley went for a run on the UGA campus, where she was allegedly attacked and killed. The suspect in this case is Jose Antonio Ibarra, an undocumented migrant who crossed the U.S. border into El Paso in 2022. Immigration officials said Ibarra was detained for crossing illegally but was released into the interior of the country. He was later arrested in New York but released again. After his release, he relocated to Georgia.

McCormick is a U.S. Army veteran running for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, according to his campaign website.