WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) announced that his guest at this year's State of the Union address will be Jefferson Parish Coroner Dr. Gerald “Gerry” Cvitanovich. 

“I am honored to welcome Dr. Cvitanovich as my guest at tonight’s State of the Union address. As the elected coroner for Jefferson Parish, a community of 433,000 people where I live, Dr. Cvitanovich has seen firsthand the disastrous results of the Biden Administration’s open-border immigration policy.  

“Today, fentanyl is the leading cause of unnatural deaths in Jefferson Parish, taking roughly 500 lives in 2021 and 2022. Eleven years ago, there were only two fentanyl deaths in Jefferson Parish. Every day in America, more than 150 people are dying from synthetic opioid poisoning due to President Biden’s open southern border.

“Until President Biden takes action, every state is now a border state because he gave control of our southern border to drug cartels and human trafficking organizations.”