Thomas Homan, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, announced Friday the federal agency is dramatically stepping up its efforts to combat the opioid epidemic in Ohio, a state that has been disproportionately affected by the heroin and fentanyl crisis.
“We’re announcing today that we are significantly increasing the number of special agents in this state assigned to work these special cases with added offices in Dayton and Toledo,” Homan said Friday during a press conference in Dayton, Ohio.
Over the past year in Ohio, ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations unit has tripled the amount of time spent focused on drug trafficking probes and doubled the number of agents assigned to the Buckeye State.
Ohio had the third-highest number of opioid-related deaths in the country from Aug. 1, 2016, through July 31, 2017, after Florida and Pennsylvania.
The newly announced federal assistance will help short-funded local and state agencies make up for a lack in manpower and resources.
“That was a significant statement we just heard,” Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, added during the press conference. “He’s a tough guy, and he’s serious, and he cares about what’s going on here on the ground … We are very eager to be part of a template for the rest of the country.”
Earlier this week, ICE held a no-cost training session for 500 law enforcement officers in Ohio and Michigan on “Dark Net” and virtual currencies, which drug traffickers use to accept payment for heroin and fentanyl. That number is more than half of the 800 investigators ICE had trained since October, when President Trump signed an executive order in October that made federal assistance available at the state and local level.
ICE plans to train a total of 1,500 investigators by Sept. 30. Its focus on illicit payment networks teaches law enforcement the backside of the drug cartel business.
