Rep. Mark Green: Why securing all our borders will protect Tennessee's security | Opinion

• Rep. Mark Green, R-Clarksville, represents Tennessee's Seventh District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
• In January 2023, he was selected to serve as chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.

America is at a crossroads — we can continue down the current path of neglecting our homeland security, or we can take the bull by the horns and proactively address emerging threats. I choose the latter.

Having been selected as the new Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security in Congress, we have critical work to do to keep every American—including every Tennessean—safe.

I want to share two of the many areas we will be tackling in the committee, which both have real daily life impacts for Tennessee families.

First and foremost, we must secure the southern border. This isn't about politics; it's about protecting Americans.

The reality is shocking.

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, there were 4 million crossings in fiscal years 2021 and 2022 and 119 suspected terrorists apprehended in fiscal years 2022 and 2023 to date. More than a million “gotaways” (migrants who evaded authorities) prove this mess, manufactured by President Biden, is both a national security and humanitarian crisis.

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The border crisis has implications for Tennessee

I've traveled to the southern border on multiple occasions—what I've seen is heartbreaking. 

As we've seen in situations across the country, an open southern border's effects don't stop in border communities.

An unsecured border has serious ramifications for every state, Tennessee included.

In Tennessee, the price of fentanyl has dropped from $95 to just $28,according to sheriffs in numerous counties. That's what happens when our communities are flooded with massive amounts of opioids. 

In FY22, CBP personnel seized a record-shattering 1,400 pounds of fentanyl, enough to kill every American nearly multiple times over.

This is no surprise since President Biden has let cartels run rampant on the border.

It's our children and our grandchildren who will reap the consequences if we do not secure our border and stop the fentanyl.

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We must hold DHS Secretary Mayorkas to account 

Our Customs and Border Protection agents are severely understaffed and underpaid, and a significant part of the Homeland Security Committee’s reforms must change that.

This includes working directly with the Judiciary Committee to end migration loopholes, which the cartels abuse to continue human smuggling and fund their criminal enterprises.

We must thoroughly investigate the actions of Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas — and hold his feet to the fire.

 Politics aside, Secretary Mayorkas has taken a careless and dangerous approach towards our homeland security—it cannot continue. 

 The migrant crisis is also affecting every community. The Biden Administration has sent busloads of migrants to communities across our nation, including here in Tennessee, who do not have the resources — nor the responsibility — to receive them.

The lack of a trustworthy vetting process at the border is also a serious concern. What else can we expect from an administration that has hung an open sign at the border for two years?

Additionally, America's fourth border, our cyber border, is at serious risk. In 2018, cyberattacks cost the federal government an estimated $13.7 billion.

(Editor’s note: The four borders the author refers to are with Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and the cyber world).

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Defense against cyber threats must be bipartisan

We cannot allow our adversaries to surpass our cyber capabilities. That's why I will collaborate with my colleagues across the aisle to combat the proliferation of cyber threats America faces.

Even after the Colonial Pipeline ransomware hack in May 2021, America remains a ripe target for transnational cybercriminals and foreign nation-states.

Ignoring this fact is detrimental to our infrastructure and dangerous to our national security. Couple this with the Chinese Communist Party's theft of our intellectual property, and we've got a serious problem. 

The neglect of our cyber border is destructive to our infrastructure and dangerous to our national security. So much of our manufacturing, healthcare, and energy sectors rely upon these vast oceans of networks. If they are vulnerable to attack, so is our national security.

In fact, there are 16 infrastructure sectors that are so critical to the United States that an attack on one of them is debilitating, according to the U.S.  Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

How many have been hit by ransomware attacks? Fourteen. In recent years, these attacks have been directed at government agencies, Fortune 500 companies, and infrastructure systems. This cannot be the status quo. 

Our fourth border, though often overlooked, is one of the most crucial in ensuring we remain a free and secure nation. Left unchecked, cyber threats will cripple our ability to grow our economy and protect the homeland.

And here at home, an unsecure cyber border would impact the lives of Tennesseans daily – whether it’s making an online order, your teenager's mobile devices, trying to heat your home this winter, and much more.

From Mountain City to Oak Ridge to Waynesboro and Memphis, a secure cyber border matters.

I'm grateful to Tennessee's 7th District for sending me to serve in Congress. It is a deep honor—and grave responsibility — to serve as the next Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. It's time to get to work.

U.S. Rep.Mark Green, R-Clarksville, is a physician and combat veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq where he served three tours of duty. He interviewed Saddam Hussein for six hours on the night of his capture. He serves the 7th Congressional District of Tennessee in Congress, and was selected to serve as Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.