Fentanyl deaths rose under Trump, and continued to rise under Biden, until today the drug kills more Americans than guns and car accidents combined.
“Trump repeatedly blames the increase in fentanyl deaths on the influx of 10 million migrants who crossed the border during the Biden,” NBC News said. And that messaging is behind people like Dawn Allen, a Chicago mother who lost a son to fentanyl, to turn against the Democrats. (Read story here.)
But Trump is lying, and Allen is wrong to blame migrants for the fentanyl scourge. NBC News says, “More than 95% of the fentanyl seized at the border is actually brought in via passenger vehicles driven by U.S. citizens,” according to government data. And Republicans, at Trump’s urging, blocked a bill that would have provided more money for border enforcement.
While illegal border crossings may be undesirable for other reasons, it’s a myth that migrants bring in drugs. Drugs are smuggled from Mexico into the U.S. at established border crossings in trucks and cars. There are so many vehicles (photo below) that border agents can check fewer than 2% of them. Slowing the illicit flow of drugs requires more agents and technology, and that requires money.
But Republicans in Congress, after urging by Trump, killed a bipartisan border funding bill to avoid giving Biden a legislative win in an election year. What a cynical way to conduct politics. And now they’re out on the campaign trail blaming Democrats for the fentanyl crisis, and people like Dawn Allen believe them.
