welcome back well the trump era border
policy title 42 is set to end on monday
but the attorneys general from 21
different states are fighting to prevent
that from happening a federal judge
could rule as soon as today on the
lawsuit which would determine the fate
of the bible administration's decision
which is expected to unleash the
floodgates of new people coming in
joining me right now is the arkansas
attorney general leslie rutledge a.g
rutledge great to see you again thanks
very much for being here this morning
you're one of the attorneys general
doing the administration over over
getting rid of title 42
i was with you at the border back in
january last year seeing the crisis up
close what are your thoughts in terms of
the impact should title 42 go away
well title 42 is important to keep
americans safe we're already seeing a
dramatic increase in illegal crossings
through our southern border into the
united states uh they've gone up over 30
percent in april 2021 alone we don't
even have the numbers yet
for this past uh last few months we are
seeing dangerous amounts of fentanyl
coming into arkansas we had nearly 500
overdose deaths in arkansas alone this
past year a record-setting high and it's
because of the illegal border crossings
so when we talk about build back better
the only thing the biden administration
needs to build back better is the wall
on the southern border border to keep
americans safe
yeah i mean it's pretty incredible about
the fentanyl i feel like everybody i
speak with knows somebody who died of an
overdose i i know three people who've
lost family members because they were
exposed in some way one way or another
to fentanyl and we haven't heard joe
biden mention fentanyl at all that's the
drug part of this but the us is also
braving for a massive surge of people
migrants borders our kamala harris is
everywhere except the border she visited
honduras in january to investigate what
she called the root causes of migration
but she is yet to actually visit the
southern border where everything is
happening aj what do you want to say do
you think she is the border czar or she
not
she's not uh she and joe biden are the
weakest president and vice president
that we have seen with regard to keeping
america safe and are strong uh
foreign relations uh we've got to
protect uh americans and people from
coming into the united states that we
don't know who they are we want people
to come to america but we want to know
who they are and what their intentions
are when they they come to the greatest
country the world has ever known kamala
harris is missing in action she's been
missing in action on this uh matter for
from the time that she took office from
the time that the president biden
appointed her as the borders are and we
need safety and security they're sending
baby formula down to the southern border
for illegal immigrants coming into the
country when we have people right here
in arkansas mothers who are struggling
who are going to the store and all hours
of the night trying to find baby formula
to feed their own children but yet the
liberal left joe biden and kamala harris
are more worried about illegal
immigrants coming into the u.s than they
are about taking care of our own
i mean the pictures that we're showing
are just so incredible and these these
pictures that we're showing while we're
talking are from this week so we're
seeing the groups increase in numbers uh
every day they're coming through the
brush they're coming through the water
they're they're showing up they're
getting in got aways are getting in seen
on surveillance cameras and and blending
into the country we don't know what
their intentions are aj why is it
important to you in arkansas talk to us
about the amount of time
that the fentanyl gets to the border how
soon does it show up in arkansas what
about the smuggling of humans how does
it impact arkansas
well sure as the chief law enforcement
officer of the state we're very
concerned because it's less than a day's
drive from the southern border between
mexico and the united states to right
here in little rock arkansas less than a
day's drive we have seen a number of
drug bust recently with enough fentanyl
to wipe out the entire population of the
state of arkansas and that's come up
again straight through the southern
border it passes we have i-30 and i-40
that go right through our beautiful
state and those drugs are being used to
smuggle right up through our state
likewise you talked about human
trafficking maria we have numbers of you
know young men women children who are
being smuggled into the united states
not just for sex trafficking but also
for labor trafficking and this is
something that the biden administration
has allowed to happen and it's time that
we
put a stop to it and that's why it's
imperative that we keep title 42 in
place
it's just incredible who hears your case
and when do you think we'll know are you
expecting a determinant on this today
from the judge ruling who
when will we know if in fact it's going
to go away on monday
well we're hoping uh that it will that
we will hear something today or over the
weekend uh from the judge because again
that is set to expire on monday uh we're
hoping to get that temporary or that
temporary into a permanent uh on monday
so that way we can protect americans and
arkansans texas does have a separate
case but these 21 states that are
fighting to protect our communities
against biden's open door open
border policies
real quick you're also suing three major
pharmaceutical companies over
allegations that they drove up the cost
of insulin is that right aj
that's correct we announced this just in
the last couple of weeks that we're
suing three major drug companies as well
as the pharmacy benefit managers for
increasing the cost of insulin in
arkansas alone we have nearly 1.2
million arkansans who are impacted
that are pre-diabetic or diabetic the
cost of insulin has increased a thousand
percent in the last 15 years maria a
thousand percent yet the cost to produce
it has not increased it's probably
decreased and this is what hurts
arkansans and americans for years we've
heard politicians talk about lowering
the cost of prescription drugs well you
know what i'm going to get it done
because we're going to hold these drug
companies and these pbms accountable
because
americans need arkansans need that
insulin it's a life-saving drug and
unfortunately they have to decide do i
pay my electric bill or do i buy insulin
to try to stay alive which one of these
things
can i afford
that that is a terrible debacle and a
terrible question to be faced with a.g
leslie rutledge great to see you we will
keep following all of that thank you so
much