Jan. 20 marks one year of President Donald Trump’s second term and one year of our collective work, Congress and the White House, to right the wrongs of the previous administration.
I ran to represent North Carolina’s 13th Congressional District, motivated by the rise in frequency and severity of crimes I witnessed in my previous job. As a federal prosecutor, I worked with law enforcement at all levels to fight organized crime, including drug cartels, human trafficking, financial crimes, national gangs and more.
I recognized the root of the problem existed in faulty policies that enabled and empowered criminals while endangering vulnerable victims.
The Biden-Harris administration’s radical open border policies allowed millions of unvetted people to flood our communities and gave vicious gangs like Tren de Aragua a foothold in the USA. Border security personnel and law enforcement officers felt disheartened as the administration forbade them from doing their jobs. North Carolina faced a disproportionate brunt of this invasion. When Trump took office, there were more illegal immigrants in North Carolina than in Arizona.
A tsunami of deadly fentanyl flooded our country, murdering countless young Americans. Rape, murder and theft ravaged hometowns while President Joe Biden insisted it wasn’t his responsibility to do anything.
Clearly, as the previous year proved, we needed a new leader.
In Trump, I’ve found a dutiful partner who shares my support for law enforcement, concern for innocent Americans and goal of creating safer, more secure communities across the country.
Trump’s commitment to enforcing existing law has sent a strong message and saved lives. The House Committee on Homeland Security, of which I am a member, recently released figures showing nationwide border encounters in October decreased 79% compared to October 2024. In the same month, U.S. border patrol released zero inadmissible aliens into American communities, compared to more than 10,000 in October 2024 under Biden-Harris.
Still, there’s more work to do. Biden spent four years devastating our national security, and we’re working overtime to ensure it never happens again. One measure I’ve pushed, and Trump has vocally supported, the Stop Illegal Entry Act, is the missing piece to bolster his national security efforts and efficiently halt illegal immigrants who repeatedly engage in criminal activity in our nation. We passed it out of the House, and I strongly encourage the Senate to vote on it quickly.
Of course, there are many issues the Biden administration left Trump to clean up, from the affordability crisis to anti-American trade policies around the globe. The massive successes of the first year, despite extreme obstruction from opponents, are just a preview of what I believe we can accomplish moving forward.
Few believed we could deliver no taxes on tips, no taxes on overtime and no taxes on social security, but with great effort, we got it done. We must approach all remaining problems with similar resolve.
I encourage all North Carolinians to keep sharing their thoughts and stories with my colleagues and me. We are fighting for you and building a better future for subsequent generations.
Rep. Brad Knott represents the 13th Congressional District of North Carolina in Washington, D.C.
The post KNOTT: Reflecting on Year 1 of Trump 2 first appeared on The North State Journal.
