During a Congressional hearing on border security, top-ranking border officials made the disturbing revelation that “enough fentanyl to kill every American five times over” was seized at the southern border in the last three months.
Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett emphasized that around 9,400 lbs of the synthetic drug were seized from entering the US since October, with nearly 7,200 lbs of it stopped at the southern border.
Tucson Sector Chief Patrol Agent John Modlin added that last year, “we seized about 700 lbs of fentanyl” in the Tucson sector alone.
“Based on the lethality of a dose of fentanyl, that's enough to kill everyone in Arizona 21 times or basically half of the population of the United States.”
Democratic Congressman Greg Casar said, however, that illegal immigrants are not the only drug smugglers noting that nine out of ten smugglers are US citizens.
“People driving narcotics across the border are citizens with passports who can get past the checkpoints,” The Texas lawmaker added.
“The people trafficking fentanyl on the border are US citizens. The people suffering and dying from overdoses in our communities are US citizens – so why on Earth are we talking about immigrants today?”
