In his recent visit to the Texas – Mexico border former President Donald Trump said, "now we have an open, really dangerous, border. More dangerous than it’s ever been in the history
of our country, and we better go back fast."
As Fox News reported, arrests along the southern border with Mexico have surged this year to their highest monthly averages in two decades, with Republicans blaming Biden’s immigration policies for the influx.
"We had all these great polices going and they were ended. One day, they were all ended. This didn’t take place over three months or five months. This took place in the first week, they were ended. It was almost like they were ended because I did it," Trump argued as he spoke at the briefing in Weslaco, near the southern tip of Texas.
Naturally, the establishment media either ignored the former President’s visit or downplayed the validity of his criticism by saying some version of, “everything’s OK, nothing to see here.”
The Washington Post complained that all the former President did was talk about himself – which was not true. What Donald Trump did during his presser with Governor Greg Abbott was contrast the results of his policies with the results of Joe Biden’s policies and the contrast was so bad for Biden the media had no choice but to suppress it, criticize it or make their boy Joe look bad.
However, NBC inadvertently proved Mr. Trump right with a separate contemporaneous report on fentanyl seizures at the border, datelined El Paso, Texas, where Vice President Kamala Harris had just appeared without even mentioning the word fentanyl.
NBC reported federal agents in the El Paso section of the southern border say they’ve seen a “staggering 4,000 percent increase in fentanyl seizures over the last three years.”
Those busts are not at ports of entry, where most smuggled drugs are typically found, reported NBC. The Border Patrol says the rising amount of fentanyl is being found in the desert – transported by increasingly brazen smugglers who are exploiting stretched federal resources.
In 2018, the Border Patrol in the El Paso sector found just one pound of fentanyl outside ports of entry. In 2019, two pounds. In 2020, nine.
During the 2021 fiscal year, agents have found 41 pounds so far – a dramatic rise that experts attribute to the increasing role in drug cartels producing the illicit drug themselves with raw materials from China. The sharp rise from 2018 to 2020 suggests the coronavirus pandemic did not artificially inflate the 2021 numbers.
According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, two milligrams of fentanyl can be lethal, depending on a person’s body size. One kilogram of fentanyl has the potential to kill 500,000 people. A kilogram is roughly 2.2 pounds.
“For the first time, we’re starting to see these tactics where fentanyl is being smuggled between ports of entry,” Chief Border Patrol Agent Gloria Chavez said in an interview. “Cartels are very creative. They find ways to intimidate migrants and find ways to illegally have them transport that narcotic into the United States.”
Just to clarify – what Chief Border Patrol Agent Gloria Chavez means is they fentanyl is coming across the border where there is no wall between the ports of entry.
NBC also reported meth seizures away from ports of entry are also up 85 percent so far this fiscal year. Fentanyl and meth seizures at the ports of entry are also up, 719 percent and 781 percent, respectively.
Texas’ Republican Gov. Greg Abbott recently announced the state would set aside $250 million to continue building a wall along the border, which Biden halted. The fact some of the money would presumably come from taxpayer dollars intended for Covid relief has infuriated Democrats, who would have opposed it anyway and former President Trump’s involvement in the rollout has really driven them around the bend.
But what’s really interesting (and funny in a trollish way) is what Biden’s own Chief Border Patrol Agent said in response to Governor Abbott’s announcement of his plans for a Texas-funded wall.
Ms. Chavez told NBC she had neither been consulted nor informed of the governor’s plan to continue building a wall. But she said she generally supports a border barrier – partly to slow down drug smugglers.
“It keeps our agents safe,” she said. “These smuggling organizations (are) already doing drive-throughs through areas where my border barrier is weak or where there is none. And that is concerning to me.”
Translation: Trump was right about the wall and Biden’s decision to halt construction is making all Americans, but especially those brave men and women of the Border Patrol, less safe.
Donald Trump border visit
Gov. Greg Abbott
border wall
illegal immigration
Biden immigration policies
fentanyl seizures
ports of entry
drug cartels
Texas border wall
Chief Border Patrol Agent Gloria Chavez