The mysterious drop in fentanyl seizures on the U.S.-Mexico border
© Joel Angel Juarez/For The Washington Post
MEXICO CITY — After years of confiscating rising amounts of fentanyl, the opioid that has fueled the most lethal drug epidemic in American history, U.S. officials are confronting a new and puzzling reality at the Mexican border.
Fentanyl seizures are plummeting.
The phenomenon has received little notice in Washington, where the Trump administration has made fentanyl-trafficking cartels a national-security priority. “Narcotics of all kinds are pouring across our borders,” said a White House statement in March, announcing stiff tariffs on Mexico and Canada.
New data suggest a more complex story. The U.S. government’s average monthly seizures of fentanyl at the Mexican border have dropped by more than half — from 1,700 pounds in 2024, to 746 pounds this year, according to Customs and Border Protection data. The White House says the drop is “thanks to President Trump’s policies empowering law enforcement officials to dismantle drug trafficking networks.” Yet the decline started before Trump took office in January. (While officials only manage to detect part of the fentanyl crossing the border, the figure serves as a proxy for supply).
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/the-mysterious-drop-in-fentanyl-seizures-on-the-u-s-mexico-border/ar-AA1FPyOH?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=HCTS&cvid=5c83ed8cabbf44d9a3e481330e49ef31&ei=91
