For too many Washington bureaucrats, American border security is reduced to a narrow, checklist exercise — counting crossings and manning checkpoints while ignoring the torrent of illicit goods and other poisons flooding our communities. But during my time at the Department of Homeland Security, I saw a fundamental shift: Border Patrol was no longer operating in isolation. President Donald Trump implemented a true whole-of-government strategy that proactively identified and neutralized threats before they reached the American interior. At long last, even the Food and Drug Administration is stepping up to meet the moment.Retail data reveal that FDA-unauthorized and illegal products account for 86.3% of all e-cigarette sales. The marketplace is saturated with thousands of unauthorized vaping products that flooded our borders during the Biden administration. The vast majority of these items originate from the People’s Republic of China, often by entities with deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
CONSERVATIVE PARENTS GROUP CALLS ON TRUMP TO TARGET ILLEGAL CHINESE VAPES
These are not products that have undergone the rigorous Pre-Market Tobacco Product Application (PMTA) process required by law. Instead, they are illicit goods that bypass our standards, frequently arriving at our ports mislabeled or hidden within legitimate cargo to evade Customs and Border Protection (CBP) inspections.
