Fentanyl seizures at the U.S.-Mexico border have jumped 750 percent in the first seven months of fiscal year 2018 compared to the same period a year earlier, according to a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and their maritime counterparts seized 284 pounds of fentanyl between Oct. 1, 2017, and April 30.
[Related: Fentanyl seizures at the border on pace to double from last year]
“There is a crisis at our southwest border — large quantities of dangerous and illicit drugs, such as fentanyl, are pouring into our country in record numbers,” DHS spokeswoman Katie Waldman told the Washington Examiner.
“The National Guard’s support of our border security mission is critical to drug interdictions and counter-drug activities, but more must be done. Congress must act to provide DHS the resources we need to gain operational control of the border,” she added.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opiate painkiller and is 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Just three years ago, CBP did not even track even track fentanyl seizures, but the continued growing demand from U.S. consumers prompted drug traffickers to begin shipping it to the states, often through the mail.
Drug cartels are also flooding the southwest border with heroin and methamphetamine. During the same time period, methamphetamine seizures spiked 63 percent and heroin busts increased 49 percent, according to DHS.
The amount of fentanyl seized by border agents has skyrocketed in recent years, from two pounds in fiscal year 2013 to approximately 1,485 pounds from Oct. 1, 2016, to Sept. 30, 2017.
In all of the 2017 fiscal year, CBP reported finding 2.14 million pounds of drugs — including 5,760 pounds of heroin, 66,617 pounds of methamphetamine, and 273,580 pounds of cocaine.
[Opinion: The opioid crisis has moved beyond prescription pills to deadly fentanyl]
