State Rep. Jamie Thompson will join other elected officials from Michigan and Ohio, as well as immigration enforcement experts for an upcoming event highlighting the urgent need to secure the country’s borders.

The “Secure The Border Now” event will feature recently retired Border Patrol Chief Chris Clem, who served for nearly 30 years in El Paso, Texas and Yuma, Arizona and has seen firsthand the litany of ongoing issues involving the southern border and how those issues impact communities and families across both Michigan and the country.

“It’s time to get serious about shoring up our border,” said Thompson, of Brownstown. “We have seen the heart-wrenching effects in our communities due to this issue not being properly addressed. We can’t go on pretending there isn’t a problem. The safety of our neighborhoods and families is at stake, and unfortunately every state is now a border state due to a relaxed federal approach that has taken hold.”

The event will take place Wednesday, June 19 from 5:30-9 p.m. at the McIntyre, located at 13910 Lake Drive in Monroe. Those interested in attending are encouraged to visit Rep. Thompson’s Facebook page for more information on registration.

Fentanyl trafficking is one of several border concerns, and Thompson has prioritized it in the House. She recently sponsored House Resolution 254, which declared May 7-13 as Fentanyl Awareness Week in the state of Michigan. In April, law enforcement officials in Detroit recovered 40 kilograms of Fentanyl in April from a stash house – enough to kill every man, woman and child in the state twice. Michigan suffered a staggering 2,539 opioid overdose deaths in 2021 – a steady increase over the course of 25 years where just over 100 deaths were reported statewide in 1999. Nationally, over 150 people die every day from overdoses related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl.

Authorities are also struggling to handle a surge in illegal immigration. In December, the U.S. Border Patrol recorded more than 250,000 encounters with migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border – setting a new all-time high. The new record marked the 10^th time encounters have surpassed 200,000 in a month since 2021. In March, an illegal immigrant was charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a Grand Rapids woman. The individual had previously been arrested in 2020 and ordered by a judge to be deported from the U.S. but entered back into the country illegally after removal.

Border Patrol encountered 172 individuals on the terrorist watchlist between ports of entry during the 2023 fiscal year – nearly double the number encountered in the previous fiscal year and more than the past six fiscal years combined.

Thompson serves the 28^th House District in portions of Monroe and Wayne counties.