{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cornyn.senate.gov/content/news/cornyn-chairs-%E2%80%98narcos%E2%80%99-hearing", "Cornyn Chairs \u2018Narcos\u2019 Hearing", "2018-12-12", "2018", "2018-12", "Republican", "House", "TX", "John Cornyn", "C001056", "www.cornyn.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "The drug cartels, transnational criminal organizations, and international gangs will stop at nothing to ensure that their business model remains intact and profitable, and that the international corridors for trafficking remain wide open.'\nIt's not just the people who die at their hands while attempting to enter the United States illegally, it's the poison that they import into the country.'\nThis is a much bigger problem, much more complex, and one we need to open that aperture, and you'll help us here today, in trying to understand before we can begin to come up with solutions.'\n \nWASHINGTON  As Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Border Security and Immigration, U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) today held a hearing to examine the activities of transnational cartels and criminal organizations and the threat they pose to the United States. Excerpts of Sen. Cornyn's opening remarks are below, and video can be found here.\nImproving our border security doesn't mean just improving physical security along our border. It also means addressing the problems that bring them here in the first place.\nThe drug cartels, transnational criminal organizations, and international gangs will stop at nothing to ensure that their business model remains intact and profitable, and that the international corridors for trafficking remain wide open.\nWe frequently see these criminal organizations preying on migrants headed toward this country's southern border. They'll offer to smuggle migrants or their children safely across the border in exchange for money.\nIt's not just the people who die at their hands while attempting to enter the United States illegally, it's the poison that they import into the country.\nAmerica's opioid crisis is being further fueled by the illicit narcotics being smuggled by these organizations. Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, is one of the deadliest drugs in the world, and its analogues are mainly manufactured in China and then smuggled into the United States by these organizations.\nThe United States needs to work with our international partners to develop a comprehensive plan to address these problems. This war on drugs, trafficking, and smuggling is one that affects all of us, and it's time we pick up our pace in dealing with it in a focused and hopefully successful way.\nThis problem does not begin or end at our borders. This is a global problem.\nThis is not looking through a soda straw at what's happening at the San Ysidro Bridge at Tijuana. This is a much bigger problem, much more complex, and one we need to open that aperture, and you'll help us here today, in trying to understand before we can begin to come up with solutions.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.cornyn.senate.gov/content/news/cornyn-chairs-%E2%80%98narcos%E2%80%99-hearing"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5991469845175743, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}