Border officials have seized 4,000 percent more fentanyl in 2021 than in 2018 as the border crisis continues, NBC News reported on June 29.
“For the first time, we’re starting to see these tactics where fentanyl is being smuggled between ports of entry,” Chief Border Patrol Agent Gloria Chavez said. “Cartels are very creative. They find ways to intimidate migrants and find ways to illegally have them transport that narcotic into the United States.”
Cartels have been manufacturing fentanyl using raw materials imported from China, experts said, according to NBC News. Just two milligrams of fentanyl can be lethal to the average person and one kilogram—about 2.2 pounds—can kill up to 500,000 people, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
Cartels reportedly favor fentanyl because it’s easier to smuggle into the United States and is highly potent and profitable, DEA officials told NBC News.
Officials reported an 85 percent increase in the number of methamphetamine seizures away from ports of entry in 2021, NBC News reported. Fentanyl seizures at ports of entry increased 719 percent and methamphetamine was up 781 percent.
Border officials in Sunland Park, New Mexico, typically encounter single adult men who attempt to evade apprehension instead of migrant families seeking asylum, according to NBC News. Drug cartels have taken advantage of the increase in migrants illegally entering the United States seeking asylum to move narcotics into the country.
“They assault the agent because they want to get away,” Chavez said. “It’s the only obstacle between them and freedom into the United States.”
