Title 42 was never designed to fix the border crisis. The policy, put into place by the Trump administration during the pandemic, was effective but was simply a Band-Aid for the gaping wound we're experiencing at the southern border.

As the sheriff of Pinal County, Arizona, I see first-hand the consequences that illegal border crossings are having on neighboring communities and the rest of the country. Under the failed leadership of the inept Biden administration , every state has effectively become a border state.

It's important to remember that the border crisis isn't just a matter of law and order; it is also a humanitarian catastrophe. With Title 42 out of the way, the criminal cartels responsible for human and drug trafficking know they will have free rein to continue to smuggle humans and drugs across the border without consequences or proper resistance.

Right here in Pinal County, we have seen a 377% increase in traffic stops involving human smuggling and a 461% increase in pursuits involving human smuggling since Biden took office.

Women and children are being enslaved, men are being extorted, and American citizens are dying at an alarming rate. In 2021, Arizona had 44 children die from fentanyl poisonings. Seven of them were under the age of one. Nationwide, fentanyl has become the leading cause of death for adults aged 18-45. That is startling and unacceptable. The public deserves better.

I deal with the human side of the border crisis every day as sheriff. I'll never forget when we encountered a woman who had a bag of 50 pills. When asked what the pills were, she said they were morning-after pills. She knew she would likely be raped multiple times during her journey across the border as a consequence of relying on the cartels to bring her over the border.

Heartbreaking stories like these are, unfortunately, the new normal due to the failure of Biden and his party to provide true leadership. Instead, they have chosen to put politics before people. Title 42 was one of the few tools left for Border Patrol to stop these evils. Now that it has expired, we will undoubtedly see continued spikes in fentanyl poisonings and human trafficking in the days, weeks, and months to follow.

To address this crisis, we must first and foremost invest in the infrastructure and technology necessary to secure our border effectively. Physical barriers, surveillance systems, and additional Border Patrol agents are crucial to impede illegal crossings and drug trafficking. We must also continue to work closely with our partners in Mexico to disrupt smuggling networks and dismantle the criminal organizations that profit from human suffering.

It's for these reasons and more that I'm running for the United States Senate.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill need to understand the severity of the border crisis, and we need someone in the room who gets it. The cartels know how to advertise. They're a business that makes billions of dollars by telling people around the world that America is open. Lawmakers must be able to confront this criminal enterprise head-on. If they don't, our country will continue to suffer.

Mark Lamb is the sheriff of Pinal County, Arizona, and a candidate for the U.S. Senate.