00:00We executed the largest fentanyl bust in the history of the U.S., seizing three million
00:07fentanyl pills all at one time.
00:09Think of that.
00:10Three million pills.
00:11It's amounted to billions of dollars' worth of drugs.
00:15And last month, we seized another 1.7 million fentanyl pills in the state of Colorado, the
00:21poorly run state of Colorado, with a governor who's incompetent and, frankly, with a governor
00:26that won't allow our wonderful Tina to come out of a jail, in a high-intensity jail.
00:35Because she caught people cheating on an election, and they said she was cheating.
00:39She wasn't cheating.
00:41She went over.
00:42She looked at one of the election scams going on.
00:47And because she did that, they put her in jail for nine years.
00:51The governor of Colorado is a weak and a pathetic man who was run by Trende Aragua, the criminals
01:00from Venezuela, took over sections of Colorado.
01:04And he was afraid to do anything.
01:05But he puts Tina in jail for nine years because she caught people cheating.
01:10And when she walked over and got involved in it, they said she was cheating.
01:14She wasn't cheating.
01:15She caught people cheating on the election, 2020, along with a lot of other people that
01:21cheated on that election.
01:22You'll see that coming out more and more.
01:25But there's no doubt that America's adversaries are trafficking fentanyl into the United States
01:30in part because they want to kill Americans.
01:33If this were a war, that would be one of the worst wars.
01:36I believe they killed, over the last five or six years, per year, 200 to 300,000 people.
01:44We hear about 100,000, which is a lot of people.
01:47But the number is much higher than that.
01:49That's been proven.
01:50And they've destroyed a lot of families.
01:53Because when they lose a child, or even if their child is heavily addicted, you lose
01:56that family.
01:57The family will never be the same.
02:00That's why today I'm taking one more step to protect Americans from the scourge of deadly
02:05fentanyl flooding into our country.
02:08With this historic executive order I will sign today, we're formally classifying fentanyl as
02:13a weapon of mass destruction, which is what it is.
02:18No bomb does what this is doing.
02:21200,000 to 300,000 people die every year that we know of.
02:27So we're formally classifying fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction.
02:34But before I sign the fentanyl order, we will pin these great servicemembers with their medals.
02:41And here today are the first 13 warriors who will receive the Mexican Border Defense Medal,
02:47which is a big deal.
02:48First, I'd like to ask Secretary Hegseth and Chairman Cain to say a few words.
02:53I'd like to have Tom Homan come up, please, if you would, say a few words.
02:59And I want to thank all of the people, Pam and everybody, Stephen Miller, great Stephen
03:03Miller, what a job he's doing, for being here.
03:05Thank you both.
03:06Appreciate it very much.
03:08We have so many great people here.
03:10But I do want to ask Tom to say a few words also.
03:12So, Pete, why don't you start it off, please?
03:15Mr. President, thank you.
03:19I would echo what you said.
03:20This has been a team effort from the beginning.
03:23Tom Homan, Terry Cole, Stephen Miller, Pam Bondi, Kristi Noem, Customs and Border Patrol
03:28Protection.
03:29It has been one team, one mission to get 100 percent operational control of the southern
03:35border.
03:36You want to talk about America first, peace through strength, and common sense?
03:38It all manifests in one basic phrase down there.
03:41Border security is national security.
03:45And we had the task of 100 percent control.
03:47And because of these men and women back here, we've achieved that.
03:50Nobody is crossing the southern border.
03:52And I want to give a big shout out to our northern command, General Guillaume.
03:56From day one, they said, our department didn't look at the border this way before you.
04:01Joe Biden allowed an invasion of this country.
04:04Tens of millions of people, drugs, gangs, violence.
04:07And the military jumped to it on day one with our partners.
04:10But ultimately, it was incredible Americans.
04:13There's 13 up here with us today.
04:15They all represent about 2,000 people who've served at the border so far.
04:18So, 25,000 Americans qualify for this Mexican national defense border medal that we're announcing
04:25today.
04:26And what's cool about this medal, it was actually first given out in 1918.
04:30So, we're reviving an old medal that existed, was given to men and women who defended the
04:34southern border.
04:35We found out about it.
04:36We used the exact same foundry with the exact same imagery, same color, same medal, same
04:41everything.
04:42So, our men and women will be wearing that very same medal as Americans 100 years before,
04:47who were asked to defend the sovereignty of our country.
04:49President Trump was elected to do that.
04:51You have done that, Mr. President.
04:52We're proud of this mission.
04:53We're proud to defend the American people.
04:55And pinning these medals on is an example of how important it is to us.
04:58So, thank you, Mr. President.
04:59I appreciate it.
05:00Thank you very much.
05:02Well, Mr. President, Mr. Secretary, I want to echo your thanks and gratitude for the
05:07joint force.
05:08I also want to highlight General Guillo, General Naumann, and Command Sergeant Major Johnson,
05:14but also leaders at every level that came together, not just in our joint force, but in the
05:20interagency.
05:21And I want to specifically highlight our border patrol teammates and our Office of Air and
05:27Marine teammates, who, when I went down to the southern border and visited, were right
05:30there next to the joint force.
05:33I also want to thank not just these 13 individuals, but the joint force that was also down there,
05:39and your families who poured in to make this deployment possible on the southern border.
05:44And of course, this time of the year, I'm always thinking about our currently deployed
05:48forces, who are out there around the world, doing our nation's business.
05:53And of course, our fallen and their families, who show us what courage and tenacity really
05:58are as they move forward after the loss of a service member.
06:02So thank you, Mr. President.
06:03Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
06:04Tom, please.
06:09You know, it's always an honor for me to be in the Oval Office with the greatest president
06:17of my lifetime.
06:18Yes, I said it, and I meant it.
06:23You know, I was just, I just got home last night.
06:25I toured the border in California, Arizona, and Texas.
06:30I did it in a four-wheel drive.
06:32I did it on the river.
06:34I did it from the air.
06:36Hundreds upon hundreds of miles of border.
06:39I didn't see one illegal alien.
06:43Not a single one.
06:45I've done this since 1984.
06:48I worked for six different presidents.
06:51None has done more than President Trump.
06:53What he has done is gave us the most secure border in the history of this nation.
07:00Hard to stop.
07:02I went to hundreds of miles of border and didn't see one illegal alien.
07:07Incredible.
07:08Considering the Biden administration, we had 10, 12,000 a day.
07:12Most released in the United States.
07:15I'm proud to be with these patriots behind me.
07:17I'm already proud to be in the Oval Office of the President, but being with these heroes,
07:21I met some of these soldiers down on the border.
07:25And actually, a shout out to Fort Drum, New York.
07:26We got some 10th Mountain Division here.
07:28So Elise Stefanik, Claudia Tenet, we all love Fort Drum and the 10th Mountain.
07:33So look, this is a game changer.
07:34I want to make something perfectly clear.
07:36Because we get attacked all the time being inhumane.
07:39The Biden administration is much more humane.
07:41It's a bunch of crap.
07:44Because there's been studies done that 31% of women that make that journey through the
07:47cartels get sexually assaulted.
07:50They get raped.
07:51And not just the women, children too.
07:53I've done numerous investigations in that.
07:57Sex trafficking was historic highs with the open border.
08:01Fat and all, historic highs that killed a quarter million Americans.
08:05No inspector terrorists that came across the border.
08:08Record historic.
08:12What happened under the Biden administration was the most inhumane thing I've seen in my
08:17lifetime.
08:18Now that the border is 96% decline, 96% less people are coming.
08:23How many women aren't being raped?
08:24How many children aren't dying and making that journey?
08:27How many women and children aren't being sex trafficking to this country every day?
08:30How many known and suspected terrorists aren't just walking across that border?
08:35President Trump and this administration is saving thousands of lives every month.
08:41Hard stop.
08:42That's just a stone cold fact.
08:43I'm just proud to be a part of this.
08:45I work with Steve Miller every day.
08:46Steve Miller is one of the most brilliant people I've met in my entire life.
08:50President Trump brought together one hell of a team here, and the success proved.
08:53We're all working together, one team, one fight.
08:56We're not done yet.
08:57We're going to keep going, and I guarantee you we're going to continue saving thousands
09:01and thousands of lives.
09:04Secured border means strong national security.
09:07Secured border saves lives.
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