Federal law enforcement in July seized more fentanyl from drug smugglers attempting to slip it into the United States across the nation’s borders than in any month in history.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the federal agency that inspects and patrols the country’s land, air, and sea borders, reported seizing 2,130 pounds of fentanyl last month, three times the 702 pounds that its law enforcement personnel intercepted in June. The 2,130 pounds from July is significantly higher than the previous record set in April: 1,292 pounds.
BORDER CRISIS: NEARLY 200,000 MIGRANTS ENCOUNTERED IN JULY
The unprecedented amount of fentanyl intercepted indicates the rate at which Mexican cartels are attempting to push it into the U.S.
“This is only the fentanyl that is being seized as the vast majority is getting through undetected according to the [Drug Enforcement Administration],” Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), the ranking member on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said in a statement Tuesday. “The lack of responsible border policies by this administration is allowing Mexican transnational criminal organizations to push deadly substances into communities in Ohio and traffic unlawful migrants into the country.”
In July, CBP officers working at a port of entry in Calexico, California, uncovered more than 600 pounds of fentanyl hidden in vehicles attempting to enter the country.
The 600 pounds is equivalent to 136 million lethal doses.
— Anna Giaritelli (@Anna_Giaritelli) July 29, 2022
Separately, the DEA seized a million fake pills that were laced with fentanyl from a home in Inglewood, California, on July 5. The fentanyl had bypassed customs officers and was being transported deeper into the country.
Fentanyl seizures have stacked up over the past decade. In 2013, just 2 pounds of fentanyl were uncovered by CBP.
Last year, CBP intercepted more fentanyl than heroin for the first time.
Not only were fentanyl seizures at the highest level ever recorded in a year, but fentanyl overdoses within the U.S. also hit new highs.
Drug users are not necessarily choosing to consume fentanyl, which is half the problem for U.S. government efforts to stop this third iteration of the opioid crisis. Street drugs are being laced with fentanyl, making all types of illicit drugs unsafe.
Mexican cartels purchase the ingredients for fentanyl from labs in Wuhan, China. The cartels produce the fentanyl from those ingredients and push it into the U.S. Chinese-based financiers launder the profits for the cartels out of the U.S., back to China, and on to Mexico.
The Chinese-driven fentanyl boom represents a third wave of the opioid epidemic, following the initial abuse of prescription painkillers around the turn of the century and a subsequent rise in heroin use. Heroin is a very addictive analgesic drug derived from morphine, which is naturally produced by opium plants. Fentanyl is synthetic and up to 100 times stronger than morphine.
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Mexican cartels are in the business of selling whatever drug brings in the most money and is easy to produce. Through the decades, federal law enforcement at the U.S.-Mexico border has seized millions of pounds of drugs — most of which was marijuana.
Over the past five years, marijuana seizures have significantly declined as U.S. states legalized recreational cannabis and legal grow operations began in the U.S. Because marijuana can only be grown in certain climates, similar to cocaine, it made drugs such as fentanyl and methamphetamines more attractive because they can be produced anywhere and at any time.
