Besides the record number of
illegal immigrants crossing the U.S. southern border in 2021, drug smuggling and drug overdoses are at an all-time high. In 2021, fentanyl overdoses were the leading cause of death for people aged 18 to 45 years.
Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) said he is deeply concerned that so many of his constituents have been affected by this influx of illicit drugs.
“So many of the people that I have talked to know a neighbor or relative who has died from a fentanyl overdose. Not even people who are trying to take fentanyl or heroin or anything else, but they may be smoking marijuana and it’s laced with fentanyl and they die from the fentanyl,” Buck told NTD’s “
Capitol Report“ during a recent interview.
“They care deeply about what’s happening at our border,” Buck said of the people in his district.
Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid that is lethal in very small amounts and has been flowing across the U.S. southern border. “It is sold through illegal drug markets for its heroin-like effect. It is often mixed with heroin and/or cocaine as a combination product—with or without the user’s knowledge—to increase its euphoric effects,” according to the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
About 100,000
Americans
died of drug overdoses between April 2020 and April
2021, which is up 28.5 percent from the previous 12-month measurement, the CDC reported.
In addition, in June 2022 alone, U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the Hidalgo International Bridge in Texas have intercepted $339,300 worth of alleged fentanyl.
Most notably, there was a 1,066 percent increase in fentanyl seizures and a 98 percent increase in cocaine seizures during fiscal year 2021, which began Oct. 1, 2020, and ended Sept. 30, 2021.
“Our CBP officers use all available tools and resources to identify and extract narcotics with caution,” said Port Director Carlos Rodriguez
in a press release. “It is vital to the safety of our officers that we be able to identify what type of narcotic we are dealing with, as a small amount of fentanyl can be fatal.”
“President Joe Biden should go down to the border,” Buck said.
Neither Biden nor Vice President Kamala Harris have been to the busiest illegal points of entry since taking office.
“This summer, we’re going to see people coming, trying to come to this country who are going to die in the deserts, either getting here or after they arrived,“ Buck said. ”[It’s] terribly sad that the United States isn’t acting more responsibly.”
The Epoch Times reached out to the White House for comment.
