{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/floor-statements?ContentRecord_id=d698d1df-4de7-49b0-ba8f-1b3beab61ab1", "OPENING STATEMENT BY SENATOR JOHN McCAIN AT FIELD HEARING IN PHOENIX ON EFFORTS TO COMBAT AMERICAS HEROIN EPIDEMIC, CROSS-BORDER DRUG TRAFFICKING", "2015-11-23", "2015", "2015-11", "Republican", "House", "AZ", "John McCain", "M000303", "www.mccain.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, D.C.  U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) today delivered the following opening statement at a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee field hearing in Phoenix, Arizona titled, Americas Heroin Epidemic at the Border: Local, State and Federal Law Enforcement Efforts to Combat Illicit Narcotic Trafficking. The hearing, chaired by Committee Chairman Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ), features two panels of testimony from Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske, Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery, Cochise County, Arizona Sheriff Mark Dannels, Arizona High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Executive Director Dawn Mertz, National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd, and The Salvation Armys Public Advisory Board/Public Policy Member Jeff Taylor.\r\nSenator McCains opening statement follows:\r\nMr. Chairman, thank you for agreeing to hold this field hearing in Arizona. As we will soon hear from the witnesses today, our state has the dubious distinction of being the primary entry point, trafficking corridor and distribution hub for drugs transported from Mexico to the United States by the Sinaloa Cartel.\r\nWe have made progress in securing our border. The reduction in apprehensions demonstrate the effectiveness of the men and women of the Border Patrol in preventing the illegal entry of people crossing the border. Increased surveillance towers and other technologies will only increase that effectiveness.\r\nBut clearly, we are losing the war with the transnational criminal organizations that bring illicit narcotics into our country. The demand for these drugs  heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine  is too high and the profits the cartels make are too great to simply dissuade these criminals from trafficking drugs across the border. We of course must improve our drug interdiction strategy, but we must also do what is necessary to reduce the demand for these drugs.\r\nThe threat to Arizona is not just that it has become a drug corridor. These drugs stay in our state, poisoning our children and doing great harm to our communities. Deaths and overdoses from heroin are skyrocketing. According the Arizona Department of Health Services, heroin-related heaths increased from less than 50 in 2004 to almost 200 in 2014.\r\nThe reality is, we are not going to stop all of these drugs at the border or at our ports of entry. That is why it is critical that we use our intelligence capabilities and strengthen partnerships between federal, state and local law enforcement to combat these drug traffickers.\r\nBorder Patrol has long used the term defense in depth, and that description applies here as we work to stop illegal trafficking of drugs. That is why I am intrigued by the governors plan to create a new drug interdiction strike force to work as a true partner to federal and local officials to intercept narcotics on the highways and bi-ways that cross the border.\r\nFinally, while this hearing is focused on heroin trafficking, the transnational criminal organizations that are bringing these drugs into the United States do not limit themselves to narcotics. They control the smuggling routes and routinely traffic humans, currency, and other illicit activities. In recent months, weve seen Special Interest Aliens from Afghanistan, Pakistan and other countries pay Mexican nationals to smuggle them into the United States. No one crosses the border without these cartels permission, indicating their clear complicity in smuggling these Special Interest Aliens into the country.\r\nOnce again, I thank Chairman Johnson for holding this hearing and the witnesses for appearing and providing testimony on this critical issue to Arizona and the nation.\r\n###", 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.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/floor-statements?ContentRecord_id=d698d1df-4de7-49b0-ba8f-1b3beab61ab1"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5371041372418404, "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"}