As Cartels Drive Drugs Across Border, CBP Only Searching 18 Percent of Vehicles

Some of the approximately 1 million fake pills containing fentanyl that were seized when agents served a search warrant at a home in Inglewood, Calif., on July 5, 2022. Drug Enforcement Administration via AP

As drugs pour across the southern border, only about 18 percent of vehicles entering from Mexico are searched by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers, their K-9s, and X-ray equipment, according to Guadalupe Ramirez, CBP director of field operations for Arizona.

The vast majority of the drugs that are seized at the southern border are being driven through the ports of entry, hidden in commercial trucks and personal vehicles.