As Colorado rolled out the welcome mat for fentanyl dealers in 2019, the federal government continued allowing the substance to cross the southern border. The combination is disastrous.

Democratic Gov. Jared Polis and other state leaders must put a stop to this deadly poison making its way into our country, long before it gets to Colorado.

Our governor does not have direct control over the border, but the border is killing his people. As the executive of a union state, he has the authority and responsibility to demand action at the border. Colorado pays for federal border enforcement and has every right to receive it.

Polis knows about our article that cited top law enforcement officials calling Colorado “a critical transportation hub” for fentanyl from Mexico.

He knows about a recent traffic stop that found enough fentanyl to kill 25 million people — more than four times the population of his state. A drug bust confiscated 170,000 fentanyl pills outside an Aurora apartment.

An 18th Judicial District grand jury indicted eight people on charges of smuggling and distributing meth, heroin and fentanyl pills, all of which came from Mexico. Etc., etc., etc.

Last week, the governor and everyone else who pays attention learned of another innocent baby who died by accidentally contracting a few granules of fentanyl in his parents’ home.

Polis awoke Tuesday to another alarming Gazette article about his state’s deadly fentanyl crisis. That’s right, we won’t let this go until it is resolved.

Tuesday’s bombshell investigative report exposes in shocking detail a family organization of deadly fentanyl dealers who began their business by simply driving in and out of Mexico with baggies of blue fentanyl pills. The ensuing small-town deaths, including close friends and colleagues, make this crisis look like a deadly viral epidemic the public knows too little about.

The Gazette’s editorial board contacted Polis on Tuesday and asked what he plans to do, given all the horrible news. Would he call upon President Joe Biden and Congress to do their work and stop fentanyl from crossing the border? After a polite exchange, Polis posted just such a demand on Facebook.

“Great journalism by the Colorado Springs (and Denver) Gazette, telling the story behind some of the first tragic fentanyl deaths in western Colorado. Fentanyl is brought in from Mexico and is cheap and deadly. I renew my call on Congress and the President to get serious about border security, including high-tech security measures and drug detection technology to halt the flow of this poison,” Polis posted.

Keep it up. Go from Facebook to news conferences. Pound a fist on the lectern, with the passion that worked in Congress.

Read the governor’s post, Washington, and take it to heart. A high-ranking Democrat says to “get serious” about keeping fentanyl out. That means he knows the president and Congress are not serious. That is part of the reason Colorado has become a hellhole of drug abuse that keeps knowledgeable parents awake at night.

Colorado Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper need to hear Polis and act immediately before this invasion of poison kills more adults, teenagers, children and babies. If they don’t get results, drug deaths will insidiously define their legacies.

Biden needs to take the governor’s advice and “get serious.” Biden’s ambassador to Mexico, former Colorado Attorney General and U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, needs to “get serious” about helping Mexico curtail foreign fentanyl trafficking.

We asked Democratic Colorado Attorney Gen. Phil Weiser about demanding better border control, given the governor’s Facebook post.

A lengthy and nuanced statement included Weiser saying he “urges Congress and the Biden administration to step up and provide significantly more resources for law enforcement, as well as enhanced tools to keep this poison from coming across the border.”

This is not political. It is not Democrat vs. Republican or liberal vs. conservative. It is a matter of life and death that kills people of all races, religions, genders, sexual identities and political affiliations. Get serious at the border and stop this deadly crisis.

Colorado Springs Gazette editorial board