The Crisis

The Border Is Broken — and Florida Is Paying the Price

Fentanyl does not stay at the border. It travels north on interstate highways, through shipping lanes, inside passenger vehicles driven by American citizens, and into the medicine cabinets, nightclubs, and schoolyards of every community in Florida. In 2023, fentanyl killed 4,593 Floridians — making it the leading cause of drug overdose death in the state and the third-highest fentanyl death toll of any state in the nation. Each death represented a son, a daughter, a parent, a friend. Each was preventable. Two milligrams of fentanyl — an amount that fits on the tip of a pencil — is enough to kill an adult. And in fiscal year 2024 alone, border agents seized more than 27,000 pounds of it trying to cross into the United States.

The southern border stretches 1,954 miles from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. After decades of promises from both parties, only 644 miles of primary barrier have been built. The remaining 1,310 miles are covered by a patchwork of detection technology, natural terrain, and in many places, nothing at all. Border Patrol is short 3,000 agents below its own congressionally authorized level, with 88% of border stations reporting understaffing. The hiring pipeline takes 300 to 600 days to move a single applicant from application to active duty. Agents are stretched so thin that during the worst of the surge, many were pulled off the line entirely to process paperwork — leaving miles of border unpatrolled while cartels exploited every gap.

"My son was 22 years old. He took what he thought was a prescription pill at a party. It was laced with fentanyl. He was dead before anyone knew something was wrong. I want every politician in Washington to look me in the eye and explain why the border that let that poison into my state is still not finished."

Diane R. · Jacksonville, FL · Mother of a Fentanyl Victim

The progress is real but incomplete. Encounters at the southwest border have dropped sharply — from 2.2 million in fiscal year 2022 to under 444,000 in fiscal year 2025. Fentanyl seizures through new scanning technology have improved dramatically, with 123 large-scale scanners now deployed at ports of entry, increasing passenger vehicle inspection capacity from 2% to 40%. Florida's own fentanyl death toll fell 35% in 2024. But the cartels adapt faster than the bureaucracy, the wall remains unfinished, and the agents who guard what exists are burning out faster than they can be replaced.

Meanwhile, the cost of illegal immigration falls squarely on the backs of American citizens who can least afford it. FAIR estimates the net fiscal burden at $150.7 billion per year. Illegal alien households collected an estimated $13.4 billion in child tax credits in a single year. Medicaid-funded emergency services for illegal aliens surged 124% under the Biden administration. Every one of those dollars is a dollar not spent on the veterans waiting months for their disability claims, the seniors watching Social Security inch toward insolvency, or the working families stretched to the breaking point by inflation. Over one million veterans are in the claims backlog. Thirty-three thousand veterans sleep on the streets. Florida's own seniors — many on fixed incomes — need every federal dollar invested in the programs they paid into for decades. Open borders mean open checkbooks, and the people who played by the rules are paying the tab.

Chris Gleason is running for the United States Senate to finish the job Washington started and abandoned — to close the gaps, fund the agents, shut down catch-and-release, stop fentanyl from reaching Florida's families, and end the taxpayer-funded subsidization of illegal immigration.

27,000+
Lbs Fentanyl Seized at the Border (FY 2024)
4,593
Florida Fentanyl Deaths (2023)
644
Miles of Border Wall Built (of 1,954)
3,000
Border Patrol Agent Shortage
84%
Of Fentanyl Seized at Ports of Entry
300,000
Children Lost or Placed With Unvetted Sponsors
$150.7B
Annual Net Cost of Illegal Immigration to Taxpayers
Threats to Florida Families

Six Forces Driving the Border Crisis

💀

Fentanyl Flooding Florida

Fentanyl is the deadliest drug in American history. In 2023, it was involved in 69% of all drug overdose deaths nationwide. Florida recorded 4,593 fentanyl deaths that year — the third-highest toll in the nation. Most fentanyl enters the United States at official ports of entry, hidden in passenger vehicles and commercial shipments. Eighty-four percent of seizures occur at ports, and 81.2% of the individuals caught smuggling it across the southwest border are U.S. citizens. The cartels have turned ordinary Americans into mules and ordinary pills into weapons.

69%
Of All U.S. Overdose Deaths Involve Fentanyl
⛓

300,000 Missing Children

Between January 2021 and December 2024, the Department of Health and Human Services processed more than 470,000 unaccompanied migrant children at the border. Approximately 300,000 of them were lost or placed with unvetted sponsors. The DHS Inspector General found that 31,000 children were released to addresses that were blank, undeliverable, or missing apartment numbers. Over 43,000 failed to appear for court hearings. A federal task force has since located 22,638 children — many found in deplorable conditions, subjected to forced labor, sexual exploitation, and debt bondage. Twenty-seven were found dead. This is not a paperwork failure. It is a moral catastrophe.

22,638
Missing Children Located by Federal Task Force So Far
🚧

The Unfinished Wall

Of the 1,954-mile U.S.-Mexico border, only 644 miles have primary barrier. The Trump administration's second-term contracts have authorized $8 billion in new construction to add 230 miles of barriers and 400 miles of detection technology — but it remains years from completion. Texas has built 66.4 miles of state wall separately. Roughly 535 miles of border are covered only by remote detection technology due to unfavorable terrain. Every unfinished mile is an open invitation to cartels, smugglers, and those who exploit human suffering for profit.

1,310
Miles of Border Without Primary Barrier
🚪

Catch-and-Release Chaos

For years, migrants apprehended at the border were processed, given a court date, and released into the interior of the United States with little more than a promise to appear. Immigration court backlogs exceed two million cases. Many never show. The June 2024 executive action and subsequent enforcement ramp-up have produced results — encounters between ports of entry dropped 60%, and deportations hit record pace at 1,450 per day by January 2026. But the legal framework that enabled catch-and-release has not been permanently reformed by Congress.

2M+
Cases in Immigration Court Backlog
🛡

Overwhelmed Border Patrol

Border Patrol is authorized by Congress for 22,000 agents. It currently has roughly 19,000. Eighty-eight percent of border stations report understaffing. The hiring pipeline takes 300 to 600 days, and 66% of applicants fail the polygraph exam — the single largest bottleneck. A 2027 retirement surge will make things worse. Despite record applications in early 2025 — 34,650 in four months, a 44% increase — the yield rate from application to active duty is only 1.8%. The men and women guarding the border need reinforcements, not more empty promises.

88%
Of Border Stations Report Understaffing
💸

Your Tax Dollars — Funding Illegal Immigration

While veterans wait months for disability claims to be processed and seniors face Medicare and Social Security shortfalls, illegal alien households access billions in taxpayer-funded benefits every year. FAIR estimates the net fiscal cost at $150.7 billion annually. Illegal alien households received an estimated $13.4 billion in child tax credits in a single year. Medicaid-funded emergency services for illegal aliens increased 124% under the Biden administration — costing taxpayers $16.2 billion. Meanwhile, over one million veterans wait for their claims to be processed. Thirty-three thousand veterans remain homeless. Every dollar spent subsidizing illegal immigration is a dollar not spent on the Americans who earned it.

$150.7B
Net Annual Cost of Illegal Immigration to U.S. Taxpayers

Fentanyl killed 75,000 Americans last year. Every death is a policy failure. Chris has the plan to stop it.

This isn't about politics. It's about parents burying children because Washington won't act.

Donate Now See the Evidence
Real Stories

Floridians Living With the Consequences

“

My daughter was 19. She was a sophomore at UCF. Someone gave her a pill at a party and told her it was Percocet. It was fentanyl. She died on a Friday night and we did not find out until Saturday morning. I keep her bedroom exactly the way she left it. Every politician who voted against finishing the wall should have to sit in that room and explain themselves.

LM
Laura M.
Orlando, FL · Mother of a Fentanyl Victim
“

I spent 14 years as a Border Patrol agent in the Tucson Sector. I have seen what happens when the line is understaffed. The cartels know our shift changes. They know which sectors are short. They send scouts and they time their crossings. I retired because I could not take the burnout anymore. The agents still out there are doing superhuman work with not enough bodies, not enough technology, and not enough support from Washington.

RC
Retired Agent R.C.
Now Living in Pensacola, FL · Former CBP
“

I run a small pharmacy in Broward County. I have had parents come in crying because their teenager bought what they thought was Xanax on social media and ended up in the ICU. Fentanyl is in everything now. Pressed pills, powder, even marijuana in some cases. People think the border is an Arizona problem. It is a Broward County problem. It is a Tampa problem. It is a Jacksonville problem. It is everywhere.

TN
Tony N.
Fort Lauderdale, FL · Pharmacist
“

I work with trafficking survivors in Central Florida. I have seen girls as young as 14 who were brought across the border, handed off to a so-called sponsor they had never met, and forced into sex work within weeks. The system that was supposed to protect them delivered them to their abusers. When people say the border is about immigration policy, I want them to look into the eyes of a 15-year-old who was sold. This is about children. This is about human beings.

MR
Maria R.
Orlando, FL · Anti-Trafficking Advocate
Enough Is Enough

Florida's families deserve a Senator who will finish the wall, stop the poison, and protect the children, not a politician who gives speeches about border security and votes to leave it open.

Every dollar you contribute funds the fight to secure the border, stop fentanyl, end the trafficking pipeline, and hold Washington accountable for decades of broken promises.

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How We Got Here

Five Failures That Made the Crisis Worse

81.2%
Of Fentanyl Smugglers at SW Border Are U.S. Citizens

The Fentanyl Pipeline

The cartels do not carry fentanyl across the desert. They recruit American citizens to drive it through official ports of entry in passenger vehicles, hidden in spare tires, door panels, and commercial shipments. One seizure in April 2023 netted roughly 800 pounds in a single commercial load. Before the deployment of 123 new large-scale scanners, only 2% of passenger vehicles were inspected at the border. The cartels exploited that gap for years, flooding American communities with a drug so potent that two milligrams can kill.

470,000+
Unaccompanied Children Processed at the Border (2021–2024)

The Lost Children

Between 2021 and 2024, HHS processed more than 470,000 unaccompanied migrant children. Approximately 11,488 were placed with sponsors who were never fingerprinted or background-checked — in direct violation of federal law. A backlog of 65,000 Notifications of Concern about child welfare went unaddressed. A study estimated that 60% of unaccompanied minors crossing the border are caught by cartels and exploited through child pornography, drug trafficking, or forced labor. Florida ranks third in the nation for reported human trafficking cases. An estimated 200,000 people were sex-trafficked in Florida in 2024 alone — half of them minors.

$150.7B
Net Annual Cost of Illegal Immigration to U.S. Taxpayers

Americans Last — Taxpayer Dollars for Illegal Aliens

While over one million veterans wait for their disability claims to be processed and 33,000 veterans remain homeless, illegal alien households access billions in federal benefits. Fifty-nine percent of illegal immigrant households use one or more welfare programs. They collected an estimated $5.8 billion in SNAP benefits for U.S.-born children, $13.4 billion in child tax credits, and $16.2 billion in Medicaid-funded emergency services — a 124% increase under the Biden administration. Every illegal alien costs U.S. taxpayers an average of $8,776 per year. That money should be going to the seniors, veterans, and working families who earned it.

~700K
Got-Aways Estimated in Recent Peak Years

The Got-Away Crisis

A "got-away" is a migrant observed entering the United States illegally who evades apprehension. In peak years, estimates placed the number at hundreds of thousands annually. While got-aways decreased roughly 60% from FY 2023 to FY 2024, the cumulative total over the past several years represents a population of unknown individuals who entered the country without any screening, vetting, or identification. Nobody knows who they are, where they went, or what their intentions were.

1.8%
Yield Rate From Application to Active Border Patrol Agent

The Staffing Collapse

Between FY 2018 and FY 2024, only 1.8% of Border Patrol applicants successfully completed the hiring process. The pipeline takes 300 to 600 days. Sixty-six percent of applicants fail the polygraph. A retirement surge in 2027 will compound the crisis. Despite a record 34,650 applications in early 2025, the agency cannot hire fast enough to close the 3,000-agent gap between its current force and the 22,000 agents authorized by Congress. The men and women who protect the border are running on fumes.

01

Finish the Smart Border Wall — Steel, Technology, and Complete Coverage

The United States has spent decades debating whether to build a wall on its southern border. The debate is over. The wall works where it exists. The problem is that it does not exist everywhere it needs to. Of the 1,954-mile U.S.-Mexico border, only 644 miles have primary barrier — steel bollard fencing designed to impede foot traffic, vehicle entry, and smuggling operations. The remaining 1,310 miles are a patchwork of detection technology, natural terrain, and in many stretches, nothing. The cartels know exactly where the gaps are. They exploit them every single day.

Chris Gleason supports the completion of a comprehensive Smart Wall system that combines physical steel barriers with advanced detection technology, surveillance cameras, ground sensors, waterborne barriers at river crossings, lighting, patrol roads, and AI-driven monitoring that can identify and track unauthorized crossings in real time. This is not about a medieval wall. It is about building a 21st-century border security system that closes every exploitable gap — whether that gap is a stretch of open desert, a riverbank, or a remote canyon that can only be covered by technology because terrain makes physical barriers impractical.

In September 2025, the administration awarded 10 new contracts totaling $4.5 billion for barrier construction across five border sectors. By late 2025, an additional $3.5 billion in contracts followed — bringing the total to $8 billion for 230 miles of new barriers and nearly 400 miles of detection technology. Chris Gleason will fight to ensure this funding is fully appropriated, that contracts are executed on schedule, and that Congress does not repeat the pattern of authorizing construction and then defunding it with the next election cycle.

The federal lever: Border wall construction is funded through congressional appropriations, primarily through the Department of Homeland Security budget and supplemental funding legislation like the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. A U.S. Senator votes directly on DHS appropriations, can co-sponsor standalone border infrastructure bills, and can use the confirmation process to hold DHS leadership accountable for construction timelines and contractor performance.

Evidence

As of late 2025, $8 billion in contracts have been awarded for border wall and technology deployment across the San Diego, Yuma, Tucson, El Paso, and Rio Grande Valley sectors. These contracts will add 230 miles of physical barriers and nearly 400 miles of detection technology. Texas has independently built 66.4 miles of state wall, with a goal of 100 miles by end of 2026. Approximately 535 miles of border will be covered by remote detection technology where terrain makes physical barriers impractical. The Smart Wall system integrates steel bollards, waterborne barriers, patrol roads, lighting, cameras, and AI-driven monitoring into a single layered defense.

02

Fund and Staff the Border Patrol — 22,000 Agents, Zero Excuses

A wall without agents to patrol it is a monument, not a security system. The United States Border Patrol is currently short approximately 3,000 agents below its congressionally authorized strength of 22,000. Eighty-eight percent of border stations have reported understaffing in Department of Homeland Security audits. The consequences are measurable: agents are stretched across wider sectors, response times increase, and surveillance gaps appear that the cartels are trained to exploit. During the worst of the border surge, agents were pulled off patrol entirely to process paperwork inside stations — leaving miles of border unguarded while they filled out forms.

The hiring pipeline is the core of the problem. The process from application to active duty takes 300 to 600 days. The polygraph exam — the single largest bottleneck — has a 66% failure rate among applicants. The overall yield rate from FY 2018 to FY 2024 was 1.8%, meaning that for every 100 people who applied to become Border Patrol agents, fewer than two made it through. Record application numbers help — 34,650 applications were received in January through April 2025 alone, a 44% increase over the same period the prior year — but volume means nothing if the pipeline cannot process it.

Chris Gleason will fight for full funding of the Border Patrol to reach and sustain its 22,000-agent authorization. He will push for reforms to the hiring pipeline — including modernizing the polygraph process, expanding background investigation capacity, and increasing the number of training slots at the Border Patrol Academy. He will support the retention bonuses and remote-location incentives that have been expanded to up to $60,000 per new agent, and he will fight to ensure those funds are not clawed back in future budget negotiations. A 2027 retirement surge is coming. If Congress does not act now, the staffing crisis will get dramatically worse.

The federal lever: Border Patrol staffing levels and hiring authorities are set by Congress through the annual DHS appropriations process. A U.S. Senator votes directly on agent authorizations, training budgets, retention incentive funding, and hiring pipeline reforms. The polygraph process and background investigation standards are governed by federal policy that can be modified through legislation or oversight pressure.

Evidence

Border Patrol currently fields approximately 19,000 agents against a congressional authorization of 22,000. A DHS audit found 88% of border stations reported understaffing. The hiring yield rate from FY 2018 to FY 2024 was only 1.8% — fewer than 2 of every 100 applicants completed the process. The polygraph failure rate is 66%, making it the largest single bottleneck. Time-to-hire ranges from 300 to 600 days. In early 2025, 34,650 applications were received in four months — the busiest period in the agency's 100-year history — but pipeline capacity remains the constraint. Hiring incentives have been increased to up to $60,000 per new agent ($20K recruitment, $10K remote location, $40K retention over four years).

03

End Catch-and-Release — Enforce the Law, Every Time, No Exceptions

For years, the United States operated a de facto open border through the mechanism of catch-and-release. Migrants who crossed illegally were apprehended, processed, issued a Notice to Appear in immigration court, and released into the interior of the country — often with nothing more than a promise to show up for a hearing months or years in the future. Immigration court backlogs now exceed two million cases. The system rewarded illegal entry: cross the border, claim asylum, get released, and disappear into the country. The cartels understood this better than anyone and built a multibillion-dollar smuggling industry around it.

Executive action in June 2024 began to reverse this pattern. Encounters between ports of entry dropped 60%. Deportations accelerated to record pace — 1,450 per day by January 2026, with ICE booking in 1,500 per day. Interior arrests now constitute 84% of detention cases, up from 38% the prior year. ICE detention capacity has expanded to 66,000 — the highest ever recorded. For every person released from ICE detention in November 2025, 14 were deported directly from custody, compared to a one-to-two ratio the year before. These are real results.

But results achieved by executive action can be reversed by the next executive. Chris Gleason will fight to codify the end of catch-and-release into federal statute — making it permanent law, not discretionary policy. He will support legislation requiring mandatory detention of all individuals who cross the border illegally pending adjudication of their case, expedited asylum processing to reduce court backlogs, and penalties for asylum fraud. He will push for adequate detention facility funding so that capacity constraints are never used as an excuse to release individuals into the interior. The law should mean what it says. If you enter illegally, you are detained. If your claim is denied, you are removed. Period.

The federal lever: Immigration enforcement policy is governed by the Immigration and Nationality Act, which is within direct Congressional authority. A U.S. Senator can co-sponsor and advance legislation mandating detention standards, reforming asylum processing timelines, funding detention facility construction, and eliminating the discretionary loopholes that enabled catch-and-release under previous administrations.

Evidence

Following the June 2024 executive action, encounters between ports of entry dropped 60%. By January 2026, ICE was conducting 1,450+ deportations per day and booking in 1,500+ per day — a record enforcement pace. Interior arrests now make up 84% of detention cases, up from 38% the year before. ICE detention capacity reached 66,000 — the highest ever recorded. In November 2025, for every person released from detention, 14+ were deported directly from custody. FY 2024 saw approximately 700,000 removals and returns — the most since 2010. FY 2025 deportations are running 25% higher than FY 2024. In September 2025, 1,464 enforcement flights were conducted — 49 per day — a 62% increase over the same period the prior year.

04

Stop Fentanyl at Its Source — Technology, Penalties, and Total War on the Cartels

Fentanyl is not a drug problem. It is a mass casualty event. In 2023, fentanyl was involved in 69% of all drug overdose deaths in the United States. Florida recorded 4,593 fentanyl deaths that year alone. Nationally, fentanyl killed 76,282 Americans in 2023 — more than car accidents, gun violence, and suicide combined. Two milligrams can kill. The cartels manufacture it in Mexican super-labs using precursor chemicals sourced primarily from China, press it into counterfeit pills designed to look like legitimate prescription medications, and smuggle it across the border at official ports of entry — often in passenger vehicles driven by American citizens recruited as mules.

Progress has been made. The deployment of 123 new large-scale scanners at southwest border ports of entry has increased passenger vehicle inspection capacity from 2% to 40% and cargo inspection from 17% to 70%. Sixteen Forward Operating Laboratories now provide rapid field testing. AI-driven machine learning models contributed to 240 seizures in 2024. Operation Blue Lotus seized approximately 10,000 pounds of fentanyl and led to 284 arrests. South Texas ports saw a 62% increase in hard narcotics seized in FY 2025 over FY 2024. National overdose deaths fell 27% in 2024 — from 110,000 to 80,000 — the largest single-year decline ever recorded.

But the fight is far from over. Early 2025 data suggests the decline may be plateauing. Chris Gleason will fight to designate the major Mexican cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, unlocking a suite of intelligence, military, and financial tools that current drug trafficking designations do not provide. He will push for mandatory minimum sentences for anyone convicted of distributing fentanyl resulting in death. He will support full funding for scanning technology at every port of entry, expanded interdiction operations, and diplomatic pressure on China and Mexico to shut down precursor chemical supply chains. The cartels are waging chemical warfare on the American people. Chris Gleason will fight to treat them accordingly.

The federal lever: Foreign Terrorist Organization designations are made by the Secretary of State but require sustained Congressional support and appropriations for enforcement. Federal sentencing guidelines, mandatory minimums, and controlled substance scheduling are within direct Congressional authority. Port of entry technology funding flows through CBP appropriations. Diplomatic pressure on precursor chemical supply chains is advanced through trade agreements, sanctions legislation, and foreign affairs committee oversight — all functions of the U.S. Senate.

Evidence

In FY 2024, CBP seized 27,000+ pounds of fentanyl at the border. 84% of fentanyl is seized at official ports of entry, not between them. 81.2% of smugglers caught at southwest border ports of entry are U.S. citizens. New scanning technology has increased passenger vehicle inspection from 2% to 40% and cargo from 17% to 70%. National overdose deaths fell 27% in 2024 — from 110,000 to 80,000 — the largest single-year decline ever. Florida fentanyl deaths dropped 35% in 2024. Operation Blue Lotus seized ~10,000 lbs of fentanyl and arrested 284 individuals. 16 Forward Operating Laboratories and AI-driven models (240 seizures in 2024) are accelerating detection. South Texas ports saw a 62% increase in hard narcotics seized in FY 2025 versus FY 2024.

05

Protect the Children — End the Trafficking Pipeline and Account for Every Child

Between January 2021 and December 2024, the Office of Refugee Resettlement processed more than 470,000 unaccompanied migrant children who crossed the southern border. Approximately 300,000 of those children were subsequently lost or placed with sponsors who were never properly vetted. The DHS Inspector General reported that 31,000 children were released to addresses that were blank, undeliverable, or missing apartment numbers. More than 43,000 children who received Notices to Appear never showed up for their immigration hearings. Another 233,000 were never even issued court dates. A backlog of 65,000 Notifications of Concern — formal reports flagging potential danger to a child's welfare — sat unaddressed. The system designed to protect the most vulnerable people on earth instead became, in the words of an HHS whistleblower, "a white glove delivery service" for traffickers, cartels, and criminal sponsors.

The consequences are not abstract. A federal task force assembled in March 2025 has knocked on 82,000 doors and located 22,638 children so far. Of those found, children were discovered in forced labor, debt bondage, and sexual exploitation. Twenty-seven were found dead — murdered, or killed by suicide or drug overdose. Teenage girls were found impregnated by their sponsors. Children were found working among adults who had never attended school since entering the country. More than 400 sponsors have been arrested. Approximately 11,488 children were placed with non-parent sponsors who never received a fingerprint check or FBI background check — a direct violation of federal law. Approximately 1,700 children under the age of 12 were placed with unrelated sponsors without a home study. Florida ranks third in the nation for human trafficking cases reported to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, and a 2024 University of South Florida study estimated that 200,000 people were sex-trafficked in Florida that year — half of them minors.

Chris Gleason will fight to codify mandatory background checks, fingerprinting, and home studies for every non-parent sponsor before any child is released from federal custody. He will push to make it permanent law — not discretionary policy — that HHS must share information with law enforcement when a child's safety is at risk. He will support mandatory DNA verification of claimed family relationships, full funding for the federal task force locating missing children, and enhanced penalties for anyone convicted of trafficking or exploiting an unaccompanied minor. He will fight to ensure that the United States government never again operates a system that delivers children into the hands of their abusers. A country that cannot protect its most vulnerable children has lost its moral authority to lecture anyone about anything.

The federal lever: Sponsor vetting requirements, background check mandates, and information-sharing between HHS and law enforcement are governed by the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act and HHS regulations — both within direct Congressional authority to amend. Funding for the federal task force to locate missing children flows through HHS and DHS appropriations. Enhanced trafficking penalties are set by federal sentencing statutes. DNA verification requirements and home study mandates can be codified through legislation in the U.S. Senate.

Evidence

HHS processed 470,000+ unaccompanied children from 2021–2024. Approximately 300,000 were lost or placed with unvetted sponsors. 11,488 children were placed with non-parent sponsors who never received fingerprints or background checks — violating federal law. 31,000 children were released to addresses that were blank or undeliverable. 65,000 Notifications of Concern about child welfare went unaddressed. A federal task force has located 22,638 children so far; 27 were found dead. Over 400 sponsors arrested. 1,700 children under 12 placed with unrelated sponsors without home studies. Florida ranks 3rd nationally in human trafficking cases. An estimated 200,000 people were sex-trafficked in Florida in 2024 — half were minors.

06

Americans First — End Taxpayer-Funded Benefits for Illegal Aliens

In 2023, the Federation for American Immigration Reform estimated that illegal immigration costs American taxpayers $150.7 billion per year — net of the approximately $32 billion in taxes paid by illegal aliens. The Manhattan Institute estimates that each illegal immigrant who entered unlawfully carries an average lifetime fiscal burden of $68,000. Illegal alien households received an estimated $13.4 billion in child tax credits in 2022 alone. Medicaid-funded emergency services for illegal aliens cost $16.2 billion under the Biden administration — a 124% increase. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) paid an estimated $5.8 billion for the U.S.-born children of illegal aliens. Fifty-nine percent of illegal immigrant households use one or more federal welfare programs — a rate that exceeds U.S.-born households in every category except SSI, TANF, and housing.

While those billions flow to people who entered the country illegally, the Americans who played by the rules are told to wait. Over one million veterans sit in the disability claims backlog. Roughly 33,000 veterans are homeless on any given night. Social Security faces insolvency in 2035 without reform, and Florida seniors on fixed incomes watch their purchasing power shrink every year. Florida's own families — working parents, elderly residents, disabled veterans — paid into these programs for decades and deserve to know their tax dollars are serving them first. It is a fundamental question of priorities: do we take care of our own before we subsidize those who broke the law to get here?

Chris Gleason will fight to close the loopholes that allow illegal alien households to access federal benefits. He will support legislation to verify immigration status before distributing any taxpayer-funded benefit — including child tax credits, SNAP, Medicaid, and housing assistance. He will push to redirect savings from ending these benefit flows into programs that serve veterans, seniors, and American citizens: VA claims processing, Social Security stabilization, Medicare preservation, and affordable housing for those who served this country. The February 2025 executive order to end taxpayer-funded benefits for undocumented immigrants was a start — but executive orders can be reversed. Chris Gleason will fight to make it permanent law. Americans first. Every time. No exceptions.

The federal lever: Eligibility requirements for federal benefits — including SNAP, Medicaid, the child tax credit, TANF, and housing assistance — are set by federal statute and are within direct Congressional authority to amend. Immigration status verification requirements can be codified through legislation. The child tax credit is governed by the Internal Revenue Code, which is amended through tax legislation in the Senate Finance Committee. Redirecting savings to VA, Social Security, and Medicare requires appropriations and authorizing legislation — both core Senate functions. Executive orders on benefits eligibility need Congressional codification to survive changes in administration.

Evidence

The net fiscal cost of illegal immigration is estimated at $150.7 billion per year (FAIR, 2023). Illegal alien households received an estimated $13.4 billion in child tax credits in 2022. Medicaid-funded emergency services for illegal aliens cost $16.2 billion under the Biden administration — a 124% increase. $5.8 billion in SNAP benefits went to U.S.-born children of illegal aliens. 59.4% of illegal immigrant households use one or more welfare programs. The average cost per illegal alien is $8,776 per year. Meanwhile, 1 million+ veterans wait in the disability claims backlog. ~33,000 veterans remain homeless. Social Security faces insolvency by 2035 without reform. The Trump administration's February 2025 executive order began addressing this, but permanent legislation is required to survive future administrations.

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The Choice

The Status Quo vs. the Gleason Plan

Career Politicians Deliver

Decades of promises to finish the wall — only 644 of 1,954 miles built
Catch-and-release policies that rewarded illegal entry and created a 2M+ case court backlog
Border Patrol 3,000 agents short with a hiring pipeline that takes up to 600 days
Fentanyl pouring through ports of entry while only 2% of vehicles were scanned
Cartels treated as drug traffickers instead of the terrorist organizations they are
300,000 children lost or placed with unvetted sponsors — 65,000 welfare reports ignored, 27 children found dead

Gleason Will Deliver

Complete the Smart Wall — steel barriers, detection technology, AI monitoring, and full coverage
Codify the end of catch-and-release into permanent law with mandatory detention
Full funding for 22,000 agents, pipeline reform, and retention incentives up to $60K
100% scanning capacity at every port of entry with AI-driven detection technology
Designate cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and mandatory minimums for fentanyl distribution

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