Border Patrol Struggling to Seize Even 5 Percent of Fentanyl

A hampered Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency is struggling to seize even 5% of the fentanyl coming across the border as agents struggle to process a surge of migrants, The Epoch Times reported.

Testifying before the House at an unofficial hearing on Feb. 1, Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, said, "150 miles of border normally takes about 75 to 90 agents—we had four agents out there."

"Cartels control the border right now," he added. "They dictate to us what our operations are going to be. That should never happen."

Responding to a question about fentanyl, Judd pointed out that the agency can't keep up with drug seizures.

"If we seize even 5 percent of what's coming across the border, we're lucky," Judd said. "And if there's nobody there to detect you and apprehend you, the cartels are going to push it through between the ports of entry when they know that there is absolutely no chance that we're going to apprehend that narcotic."

According to CBP data, in the 2022 fiscal year so far, border agents have seized 2,707 pounds of fentanyl; in 2021, the amount was 11,201 pounds .Roughly two milligrams is enough to be fatal. Law enforcement in Scottsdale, Arizona, in 2021 seized a record 1.7 million fentanyl pills. 

"There have been no new operations, policies, or programs put in place since this administration has taken office to help the border Border Patrol go after criminal cartels and the profits that they are generating" from trafficking Fentanyl and other such drugs across the border," Judd said at the hearing. 

"As long as our hands are continually tied with the millions—because it is millions of people that cross the border illegally—we're always going to give the cartels the upper hand to continue to cross their products and create artificial gaps in our coverage."

"We're not even a speed bump," Judd concluded. "We're actually facilitating, because when we release these individuals … we are giving them a de facto legal status to be here. We are rewarding them for violating our laws."

• Border Patrol: 1,006 Percent Increase in Fentanyl Coming Across Border Last Year
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