The amount of fentanyl confiscated by federal agents at the southern U.S. border jumped by more than 200 percent in July to a record, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) statistics released on Aug 15.
In July, CPB seized 2,130 pounds of the synthetic opioid. The total is more than three times the 702 pounds that was intercepted in June, and topped the previous monthly record of 1,300 pounds set in April.
It’s also nearly equivalent to the total amount of fentanyl confiscated in all of 2019.
“The lack of responsible border policies by this administration is allowing Mexican transnational criminal organizations to push deadly substances into communities in Ohio and traffic unlawful migrants into the country,” Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), the ranking Republican member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said in an Aug. 15 statement,…