Mom whose sons died from fentanyl blasts Democrats after House hearing: ‘We have reason to be afraid’
Rebecca Kiessling speaks out about the fentanyl crisis after losing her two sons to the deadly drug and makes a heartbreaking plea to Congress to take action in securing America’s borders.
After her heartbreaking testimony during a House committee hearing Tuesday, Rebecca Kiessling continued her rebuke of Congress' lack of action on the southern border, enabling massive amounts of fentanyl to surge into the country.
Having lost her sons to the deadly drug, Kiessling directed her criticism on "Fox & Friends" Wednesday to House Democrats who reduced her testimony to "fearmongering."
"It was really disheartening to see the Democrats saying that there's fearmongering going on," Kiessling said. "I'm fearmongering? We have reason to be afraid. We're at war. Do something."
Kiessling's sons, Caleb and Kyler, died in 2020 after taking a drug they believed was Percocet, a prescription pain medication. Kiessling shared how the "murder pills" were actually laced with five times the lethal amount of fentanyl.
BORDER PATROL SEIZED OVER 800 POUNDS OF FENTANYL BETWEEN PORTS OF ENTRY SINCE OCTOBER: SOURCE
Feb 28, 2023: Rebecca Kiessling testifies to Congress on the fentanyl epidemic. (Screenshot)
Fentanyl, which can be fatal in tiny doses, has been at the epicenter of the U.S. opioid crisis. Officials have said that of the 108,000 overdose deaths in 2021, more than 80,000 were linked with opioids like fentanyl -- which is often cut into other drugs, so people don't know that the drugs they are taking contain it.
"I don't even use the term laced because there was no Percocet. It was all fentanyl," Kiessling told host Brian Kilmeade. "My son Kyler had five times the amount that was enough to kill him. I mean, these are murder pills. It's not laced. They're just murder pills."
Fentanyl is primarily made in Mexico using Chinese precursors and smuggled across the land border. Primarily it is intercepted through ports of entry by CBP’s Office of Field Operations (OFO) as smugglers attempt to bring it to the country in their vehicles, but it is also sometimes stopped by Border Patrol agents in the field.
Producers of the drug have created more sophisticated pills, making them appear nearly identical to prescription drugs or making them look enticing by modeling them after candy.
Kiessling echoed her argument from Tuesday's hearing on the Hill, claiming the open border caused by Democrat policies is driving this crisis.
"We need to cut [fentanyl] off at the source, at the border," she testifided.
"We have a weather balloon from China going across our country, no one died and everyone’s freaking out about it, but 100,000 die every year and nothing’s been done, not enough is being done. Numbers are going up not down."
Democrats have pushed back on the claim border policies are to blame, using points-of-entry fentanyl seizures as evidence their policies are working in fighting the crisis. But Republicans have warned that an "open" and overwhelmed border is allowing the drug to pour in.
"They're [Democrats] using a false narrative that 91% are coming through ports like points of entry when they don't want to face the fact that they're coming over our open borders and that the policies are causing this problem," Kiessling argued. "We've had a 22% increase in fentanyl deaths between 2020 and 2021 since Biden opened the borders."
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"There's a problem with their failed policies."
Following Tuesday's hearing, Kiessling shared she hopes her testimony will bring about some change.
Fox News' Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
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