The Sconi

Eric Hovde, U.S. Senate candidate in Wisconsin, said that current border policies, supported by his opponent Senator Tammy Baldwin, have made "every state, including Wisconsin, a border state." Hovde gave his statement to the Sconi on September 20.

"Sen. Baldwin's support for Border Czar Kamala Harris' radical open-border policies has made every state, including Wisconsin, a border state," said Hovde. "Baldwin and Harris are dangerously liberal and can't be trusted to keep Wisconsin safe. It's time for change."

The House Homeland Security Committee Majority released a report on September 18 titled "Crisis by Design: A Comprehensive Look at the Biden-Harris Administration’s Unprecedented Border Crisis." According to the report, Americans have witnessed "national security, public safety, and humanitarian disaster" at the southern border. The report indicates that 10.2 million illegal aliens have entered the country in the last four years under the current administration. It also notes there are "roughly" two million gotaways where Customs and Border Protection was unable to detain individuals.

Due to policies at the southern border, cartels and criminal groups now control who crosses the border from Mexico, according to the Homeland Security Committee Report. "It is now nearly impossible to cross without paying them," the report said. Cartels focus on human smuggling, making a majority of their profit from migrants who pay them to help cross terrain and find correct routes across the border.

The border crisis has reached Wisconsin, according to Mark Belling, host of a daily WISN radio talk show, writing for Washington County Daily News. A Venezuelan gang has allegedly been implicated in the sexual assault of a minor in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. Venezuelan gangs were also seen in Aurora, Colorado and Chicago. Fentanyl overdoses have increased in Wisconsin as fentanyl is being smuggled across the border by drug cartels. "Our country is awash in this superpowered opioid and virtually all of it has entered the country through the southern border," Belling said.

Hovde was born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin, graduating from East High School and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. With his brother Steve, he created the Hovde Foundation to build homes providing "shelter, care and love to vulnerable children and families right here in Wisconsin, and all across the world," according to his official biography. He also fights for a cure for Multiple Sclerosis as he was diagnosed at age 27.