1. United States
2. Tenn.
3. Letter

Condemning the Misguided Scapegoating of Venezuelan Migrants I am writing to express my profound concern over policies and rhetoric that falsely blame Venezuelan migrants and asylum seekers for the fentanyl crisis. This scapegoating is factually wrong and leads to dangerous outcomes. Recent agreements, like the U.S. security cooperation with the Dominican Republic reported by Ground.news, are framed around stopping drugs and migration from countries like Venezuela. This reinforces a false narrative that migrants are the primary fentanyl smugglers. This could not be further from the truth. Data from the Cato Institute reveals a stark reality: 99.2% of fentanyl trafficking convictions are of U.S. citizens. Asylum seekers are not more likely to be convicted of fentanyl trafficking than American citizens are. The primary threat comes from domestic trafficking networks, not people seeking safety at our border. Despite this evidence, Venezuelan migrants are targeted by punitive policies and inflammatory rhetoric. This has real and harmful consequences: 1. It endangers vulnerable people seeking protection, violating their right to asylum. 2. It fuels xenophobia and misdirects public fear. 3. It wastes resources on militarizing the border against a non-existent threat, while the actual sources of the fentanyl crisis—domestic demand and trafficking—are neglected. I urge you to: · Publicly condemn the scapegoating of migrants and correct the record with this data. · Oppose policies that use the "war on drugs" to justify restricting asylum. · Advocate for a humane, evidence-based border approach and focus on public health solutions to the actual fentanyl crisis. We must not let a public health tragedy be exploited to abandon our legal and moral duties. I ask you to champion policies based on fact, not fear.