A new report by CBP shows that although the COVID-19 pandemic helped slow human traffic, drugs and other illicit goods have continued to soar from Mexico across the southern border into the United States during the last fiscal year, which lasted from October 2020 until September 2021.
The report, which collected data from eight ports of entry along the southern Texas border between Brownsville and Del Rio, discovered that during this time, agents confiscated nearly 88,000 pounds of narcotics with an evaluated street value of $786 million.
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According to the CBP, during the Fiscal Year 2021, CBP officers at the eight ports of entry extending from Brownsville to Del Rio that comprise the Laredo Field Office seized 87,652 pounds of narcotics that would have commanded a combined estimated street value of $786 million. Specifically, they seized 41,713 pounds of marijuana; 8,592 pounds of cocaine, up 98 percent from FY 20; 33,777 pounds of methamphetamine; 1,215 pounds of heroin, 588 pounds of fentanyl, up 1,066 percent from FY 2020, $10.4 million in unreported currency, 463 weapons, up 21 percent from FY 2020 and 84,863 rounds of ammunition.
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Given the fact that just a quarter of a milligram of fentanyl is enough to kill a person, CBP agents have expressed concern with their proximity to the substance.
“Faced with significantly less traffic due to travel restrictions imposed for public health reasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the drug and contraband threat remained the same and our frontline CBP officers rose to the challenge to meet that threat head-on,” said Director, Field Operations Randy J. Howe, Laredo Field Office. “Our significant gains in fentanyl and cocaine seizures underscore the deadly nature of the contraband we encounter, the need to utilize Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to protect our officers and our continued resolve to carry out our vital border security mission.”
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Howe repeated that while there has been "less traffic due to travel restrictions imposed for public health reasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the drug and contraband threat remained the same and our frontline CBP officers rose to the challenge to meet that treat head-on."
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CBP officers at Laredo Field Office ports of entry in FY 2021 also concluded that more than 20,701 non-U.S. citizens were inadmissible to the U.S. due to violations of immigration law.
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