Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) reintroduced legislation to allow the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to expedite the processing and removal of migrants illegally entering the country in response to the fentanyl-related public health emergency, Breitbart News learned exclusively Wednesday.
Scott’s Alan Shao II Fentanyl Public Health Emergency and Overdose Prevention Act takes a threefold approach to addressing the fentanyl crisis fueled by the expiration of Title 42 during the Biden administration.
“The former president left a disaster on our southern border that infected communities and families across our nation,” Scott told Breitbart News in an exclusive statement. While President Donald Trump and his team are making remarkable progress securing the border through executive actions, Scott seeks to move legislation that would remain in place after the Trump administration.
He explained to Breitbart News his very personal reason for introducing the bill.
“A couple of years ago, my friend Alan Shao lost his son to the crisis curated by the Biden administration’s open border policies. This legislation is named in honor of his son to remind us that one life lost is one too many and that we can’t continue to sit idly by allowing devastation to rip through our homes,” he said.
Alan T. Shao, for whom the bill is named, was the son of Dr. Alan Shao, the former Dean of the School of Business at the College of Charleston in Scott’s home state. Alan passed away at the age of 27 due to a fentanyl overdose.
Under Scott’s bill, expedited processing and removal would apply to migrants attempting to enter the United States from Canada or Mexico illegally, not possessing necessary travel documents for admittance into the United States, and being held at a point of entry or a Border Patrol station facilitating immigration processing.
The legislation utilizes powers similar to those under Title 42, which Trump activated to curtail illegal immigration during his first administration. Those powers, which Biden halted, allow DHS to expedite the processing and removal of migrants illegally entering the country, and applies them in response to the fentanyl-related public health emergency.
According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the agency seized more than 367 million deadly doses in 2024 – a mere 2 mg of fentanyl equates to a deadly dose. More than 100,000 Americans died from drug overdoses during 2023, the majority caused by fentanyl.
Scott has been a leader in the Senate in seeking to close the southern border to drugs and illegal migrants. In addition to the Alan T. Shao II Fentanyl Public Health Emergency and Overdose Prevention Act, he introduced the Securing Our Border Act, which redirects $22.4 billion of unobligated funding in Democrats’ ill-named Inflation Reduction Act to hire 87,000 Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agents and utilizes those funds to bolster border security measures.
He also introduced the Stifling Transnational Operations and Proliferators by Mitigating Activities that Drive Narcotics, Exploitation, and Smuggling Sanctions Act – or the STOP MADNESS Act, which would also ensure the president can sanction foreign governments that resist efforts to repatriate their citizens who unlawfully enter the United States.
Scott has worked to advance bipartisan border security measures as well. In April 2024, his FEND Off Fentanyl Act was signed into law. That bill directs the Treasury Department to use U.S. economic national security tools to choke off the profits of the Chinese precursor manufacturers and the Mexican cartels that push fentanyl across the border.
“I am grateful to lead efforts to put an end to this public health crisis and clean up our border,” Scott said. “I look forward to working with the Trump administration to ensure more Americans can live in a safer nation.”
Bradley Jaye is Deputy Political Editor for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter and Instagram @BradleyAJaye
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