Government data for 2018 shows more drugs were seized near open parts of the U.S.-Mexico border than were seized at ports of entry, calling into question a popular Democratic talking point that most drugs come through official border crossings.
U.S. Border Patrol, which works in the unfenced or minimally protected space between crossings, seized nearly 480,000 pounds of drugs on the U.S.-Mexico border in fiscal year 2018.
Drug seizures that occur at ports of entry are documented under Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Field Operations statistics. Its four field offices on the southern border — El Paso, Texas; Laredo, Texas; Tucson, Ariz.; and San Diego — seized 370,000 pounds of drugs in the 2018 fiscal year.
President Trump has touted drug seizures between border crossings as a reason to build a border wall, while Democrats in particular have focused on those taking place at crossing points, saying more wall won’t greatly affect drugs coming into the country.
Trump noted in January that the majority of drugs smuggled into the U.S. came in through the southern border, and CBP data backs that up.
“Our southern border is a pipeline for vast quantities of illegal drugs, including meth, heroin, cocaine, and fentanyl,” Trump said. “Every week, 300 of our citizens are killed by heroin alone, 90 percent of which floods across from our southern border. More Americans will die from drugs this year than were killed in the entire Vietnam War.”
Marijuana made up the greatest amount of drugs caught while being smuggled from Mexico into the United States. Slightly more than 461,000 of the 480,000 pounds of narcotics found was marijuana. All other drug seizures between ports of entry totaled less than 20,000, or less than 5 percent of the total pounds seized.
At border crossings, pot made up 300,000 pounds of the total 553,000 pounds found at both borders and coasts.
Other drugs, including heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl, were seized in significantly lower quantities, and more of those were found at ports, not by Border Patrol.
In addition, the amount of methamphetamine and fentanyl Border Patrol and officers working at ports of entry have seized on its way into the United States has increased.
A total of 250,000 pounds of meth and 2,465 pounds of fentanyl were found in 2018.
CBP seized a total 1.7 million pounds of drugs in 2018, including 766,000 pounds from Air and Marine Operations off the coasts and in international water. CBP did not respond to a request for comment.
