Silver State Times

With fentanyl overdose deaths surging across the country, experts are placing the blame on Mexican drug cartels who are utilizing large swaths of migrants at the southern border in order to smuggle the drug into the country.

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), in 2021 there were an estimated 107,622 drug overdose deaths in America, which set a new record based on the CDC National Center for Health Statistics. This data shows the number of deaths related to synthetic opioids, which includes fentanyl, far outpaced all other drugs. Fentanyl climbed 23% compared to 2020, going from 57,834 to 71,238.

A New York Post report found that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data found that more than 90% of the 10,000 pounds of fentanyl that was seized during fiscal year 2021 happened at the legal border crossing points in California and Arizona. This is where about 30% of migrants enter the country daily.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) blamed President Joe Biden on Twitter with a post of the New York Post article along with the quote, “The cartels are exploiting Biden’s open border and poisoning our country with fentanyl. #BidenBorderCrisis."

The article reported that Texas-based security consultant and former deputy chief of the El Paso Police Department Robert Almonte said that border patrol agents are too busy dealing with the migrants to stop fentanyl from entering the country.

“Border agents are not getting the support they need from the federal government to stop the flow of fentanyl, which is killing thousands of Americans,” Almonte was quoted in the article. 

Almonte added that fentanyl overdose deaths are surpassing the combined total for guns, suicides and traffic accidents deaths which he calls a “crisis.” The Post article also reported that while fentanyl is being manufactured as a pill, it is also being added to other drugs like heroin and cocaine.

The problem is already worsening in the Silver State, according to news reports.

In Nevada, a NBC News 3 report concluded that overdose deaths surged by 20% last year.  According to CDC data, the state saw at least 1,036 overdose deaths between October 2020 and October 2021. It is also reported that about two-thirds of those deaths involved synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl, which are on the rise in Southern Nevada.

According to a report by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), there were 20.4 million counterfeit pills seized by the DEA in 2021 alone, which is enough of the product to kill everyone in the country. 

President Joe Biden has plans to lift Title 42, which was a pandemic regulation that has been used to expel migrants at the southern border. If lifted, U.S. Customs and Border Protection expects a surge of up to 18,000 migrants crossing the border every day, according to ABC News.