Many more targeted inspections, use of the latest technology and intensified intelligence efforts against criminal organizations have resulted in more seizures, a Customs and Border Protection spokesman said. Customs and Border Protection.įor the same time frame, nearly 95% of total seizures, or about 22,278 pounds, were recorded at border checkpoints in Tucson and San Diego, data shows. Related: How does fentanyl get to Dallas? Federal investigation reveals the pathwayĮl Paso leads Texas with the highest number of seizures at border checkpoints, with 317 pounds of fentanyl seized so far in fiscal year 2023, though the numbers pale in comparison to Arizona and California, where fentanyl has risen sharply, according to U.S. The drug’s popularity is also challenging because “a shoebox-size of fentanyl is easy to hide inside an engine, which can translate to millions of doses,” said Jeremy Slack, chair of the sociology and anthropology department at the University of Texas at El Paso and an expert on border issues. “They have their footprints all over Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa and even New Zealand.” The fentanyl trade has helped Mexican cartels expand their presence, ambition, power and brutality throughout North America and South America, said Felbab-Brown. The tiniest amount is potent enough to destroy lives, upend governments and threaten democracies from Mexico to Ecuador, according to experts including Vanda Felbab-Brown, who studies Mexico’s organized crime at the Brookings Institution.
It is the deadliest drug ever created, and in Texas, an average of five people died from the drug every day in 2022.įentanyl is cheap to make and easy to move, which makes it lucrative for drug traffickers, the DEA said in a 2020 report. and is linked to more fatalities of Americans under 50 than any other cause of death. Fentanyl has overtaken heroin as the drug most frequently involved in overdose deaths in the U.S.
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