As Mexican cartel violence has escalated during the Biden administration, the U.S. State Department announced it is increasing a reward for a Mexican drug lord.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is also seeking information on two others. All three remain at large.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin on Tuesday confirmed he supports President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to impose new tariffs against Mexico to compel the neighboring nation to cut the flow of fentanyl over the southern border. Youngkin argues that Trump’s plans will ignite an expansion in manufacturing for Virginia.
Youngkin reportedly confirmed his support for Trump’s tariffs during a Tuesday press conference, as he provided an update on the commonwealth’s efforts to curtail fentanyl overdoses with Attorney General Jason Miyares.
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In a new move aimed at addressing the growing concerns over illegal immigration and the influx of drugs into the United States, President-elect Donald Trump announced Monday his plans to impose significant tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China. Trump’s statements, made on TruthSocial, outlined economic measures to tackle what he described as a “crisis” of crime, drugs, and illegal immigration.
Trump began by addressing the situation at the southern border, where he described an ongoing caravan of migrants traveling through Mexico.
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Although passengers will sometimes get their bottle of water thrown out going through airport security, one traveler had much bigger problems, according to an announcement from the Phoenix Police Department on Tuesday.
Phoenix PD airport officers arrested a woman headed to Atlanta for having 6 kilograms of powdered fentanyl, as well as 50,000 fentanyl pills in their checked bag. The Transportation Security Administration will scan bags that people decide to keep in the cargo hold of a plane during a flight, and authorities arrested the women at the airport once the drugs were discovered, according to a Facebook post from the department.
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Republican U.S. Senate nominee Dave McCormick on Wednesday expanded on his previous position that the United States should use its military to strike cartel installations in Mexico behind the illegal exporting of fentanyl over the southern border.
McCormick told The Associated Press he envisions the precision use of military resources to destroy facilities behind fentanyl production or transportation, which he said the country’s leaders should consider terrorism.
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Tennessee Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn discussed the crushing and lasting impact of the fentanyl drug crisis in a video shared exclusively with Just The News.
The video features Blackburn speaking with a mother, Kathy Borum, who lost her eldest son, 17-year-old Vaughn-Thomas Borum, to what appeared to be accidental fentanyl overdose on Dec. 2, 2021.
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The Biden administration added China to its illicit drug watchlist on Monday, despite previously touting cooperation with Beijing on countering the growing fentanyl epidemic in the U.S.
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“I will be a vice president who never forgets where he came from.”
Cast off by a drug-addled mother, raised by a discipline-demanding, f-bomb-wielding Mamaw, J.D. Vance’s inspirational story is one of lost potential reclaimed. If Vance is elected and remembers where he came from, this country has much to look forward to – because his redemptive story envelopes millions of Americans.
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The Pennsylvania Democratic Party on Tuesday issued a press release containing remarks by elected officials about the investment by Republican U.S. Senate nominee Dave McCormick in fund that owns shares in a Chinese fentanyl manufacturer, despite failing to acknowledge a similar investment by Senator Bob Casey (D-PA).
A party press release reports that State Representative Jim Prokopiak (D-Bucks County) and Bucks County Commissioner Bob Harvie held a press conference to condemn McCormick for his investment and his stance on abortion.
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A fentanyl dealer from Crossville has been arrested and charged with Second Degree Murder after one of her customers overdosed and died.
“On September 14, 2021, officers with the Crossville Police Department responded to a 911 call at a home on Willow Street in Crossville. Samuel Mashburn … was found deceased in the driveway,” according to a press release from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI). “An autopsy determined Mashburn died from acute combined multiple drug intoxication.”
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As a result of intensifying efforts by multiple law enforcement agencies, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced in a series of statements that record amounts of illicit fentanyl and other dangerous drugs, as well as hauls of illegal weaponry have been seized.
Through two programs dubbed “Operation Plaza Spike” and “Operation Apollo,” officials say that as of June in FY 2024, over 15,000 pounds of fentanyl have been seized, exceeding the total amounts from the previous eight fiscal years combined. Despite a 17 percent decrease in nationwide drug seizures from May to June, CBP notes that significant quantities of drugs and firearms continue to be intercepted at the border.
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Southern Arizona continues to see major busts of illicit drugs.
Two separate incidents in Yuma and Tucson on June 6 resulted in 138 pounds of drugs including fentanyl and methamphetamine by Arizona Department of Public Safety troopers, according to a news release.
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Monday night, Cotija Mayor Yolanda Sánchez left a gym on a public street, and walked alongside her bodyguard when men armed with assault rifles suddenly shot at them from a moving car.
The pair were seriously injured and transported to a nearby hospital where doctors learned the local town leader had been shot 19 times. She was pronounced dead by 9:30 p.m. local time, according to the EFE Spanish news agency.
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More fentanyl is coming across the southern border disguised as prescription pills, according to a new study that notes the “number and size of fentanyl seizures is increasing in the U.S.”
A study published in the International Journal of Drug Policy suggests the shift in distribution trends puts “a wider population at risk for unintentional exposure to fentanyl.”
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An organization that helps those with drug addiction on the Mexico-U.S. border warned that fentanyl consumption has reached migrants arriving in Ciudad Juárez, where some already arrive with drug problems from their countries, according to Mexican government statistics and a report published by the EFE Spanish news agency.
Julián Rojas Padilla, coordinator of Harm Reduction in the Compañeros Program (HRCP), a civil association that supports consumers who want to quit substances, told Spanish language media outlets that fentanyl mixed with other drugs in Juárez has become a popular new and dangerous choice of narcotics reaching the migrant population.
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Nashville suffered 30 combined overdose incidents across Sunday and Monday, Metro Nashville Police Department told The Tennessee Star about a recent spike in overdose activity in Nashville.
MNPD announced the recent overdose spike in a Tuesday press release, detailing the department’s efforts to fight overdoses in Nashville in response to the rise in overdose activity. For example, MNPD highlighted its detectives distributing kits of Narcan, a medicine that can treat drug overdoses in emergency situations, to about 40 homeless individuals.
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Metro Nashville Police Department handed out kits for Narcan, medicine that can treat drug overdoses in emergency situations, to about 40 homeless people on Monday in response to a spike in overdoses on Sunday and Monday.
Detectives are investigating the overdose spike, according to an MNPD press release. In only one incident downtown, eight individuals overdosed together, causing two fatalities while the other six were revived with Narcan.
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Provisional estimates show drug overdose deaths declined about 3.1% nationwide, but multiple states reported increases of more than 20%.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s provisional estimated overdose deaths in 2023 declined about 3.1% to 107,543. That’s down from 111,029 in 2022. Two out of every three deaths involved synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, a cheap and potent opioid smuggled into the U.S. from Mexico.
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Former DEA Special Operations Director Derek Maltz highlighted how strategic China is when it comes to attacking other countries, and claimed that the opioid crisis facing the U.S. is largely because of China and its connections with Mexican drug cartels that sneak it across the U.S. border.
A former Drug Enforcement Administration official warned about the dangers of China on Monday, claiming the foreign country is bringing its own pesticides into the United States, and that it has expanded past the fentanyl, to a new opioid called “nitazenes.”
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Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne announced the creation of a new Arizona Department of Education (ADE) task force to educate students about the dangers posed by the synthetic opioid fentanyl and provide emergency Narcan for school staff to reverse potentially fatal overdoses.
Horne announced the formation of the School Training Overdose Preparedness and Intelligence Taskforce (STOP-IT) on Tuesday, revealing the new effort will educate children about the dangers of fentanyl and other opioids while providing schools with resources to save lives.
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Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake announced on Tuesday the formation of the Families Fighting Fentanyl Coalition.
This initiative is part of her ongoing campaign to address what she perceives as a severe crisis fueled by inadequate border controls under President Joe Biden’s administration.
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The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) said in a statement that it has arrested five people for their involvement in a drug smuggling operation into the Hamilton County Jail.
“This operation, uncovered through a comprehensive investigation revealed a conspiracy responsible for smuggling illegal contraband into the jail,” HCSO said. “The items seized included 12 wrapped bundles of suspected blue Fentanyl, 6 Suboxone strips, 35 strips of Toon Paper (papers laced with THC), some blue powder suspected to be Fentanyl, and approximately 20 blue Fentanyl pills.”
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Biden administration Secretary of State of State Antony Blinken on Friday visited Tuscon to participate in a “roundtable on synthetic drugs.” Despite visiting an emergency services call center and a passport office, he did not visit the southern border.
A State Department itinerary of Blinken’s schedule on Friday reveals he was slated to arrive at the Tucson Passport Center at 11:20 a.m. for a “meet and greet” with local employees.
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The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency has issued another warning about the growing prevalence of a veterinary sedative in illicit fentanyl supply.
For years, dealers have been mixing xylazine, a non-opioid tranquilizer approved for animal use, with fentanyl and other drugs to increase potency and profits.
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Stronger fentanyl-related drug trafficking penalties and a requirement to teach high school students the dangers of fentanyl now wait on the Ohio Senate to move closer to becoming law.
House Bill 322, which passed the House with an 80-13 vote but has yet to be introduced in the Senate, is a direct response to both drug and human trafficking, according to sponsor Rep. Cindy Abrams, R-Harrison.
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The Ohio House of Representatives recently passed the Saving Ohio Communities Act which would work to combat the drug and human trafficking crises in the Buckeye State through a number of measures.
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California seized over one million fentanyl pills just last week, more than was seized in all of February, highlighting how much smuggling of drugs and illegal immigrants has shifted to California since Texas strengthened its border.
In September, California Governor Gavin Newsom increased the California National Guard’s San Diego border region presence from 40 to 60 soldiers for narcotics operations.
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A new report Tuesday detailing the Chinese Communist Party’s role in the fentanyl crisis plaguing the country details the findings of a House investigation that concluded the Chinese government subsidizes the manufacturing and export of fentanyl materials and refuses to crack down on the illicit market.
The report, released by the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, coincided with a public hearing with former Attorney General Bill Barr, former DEA Chief of Operations Ray Donovan, and an expert from the RAND research organization.
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Ten years ago, I had never heard the word “fentanyl.” Now, every sorority and fraternity on my college campus is equipped with Naloxone, also known by the brand name Narcan, a lifesaving medication used to treat opioid overdoses.
The fentanyl crisis is acutely felt on college campuses. Oftentimes, college students will take a pill that they thought was Xanax or Ritalin and end up dead.
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Penalties for those who expose law enforcement officers to fentanyl are set to increase in the Sunshine State after new legislation was signed Monday.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Senate bills 718 and 66. The first creates a second-degree felony for any adult individual who recklessly exposes first responders to fentanyl that results in an overdose or serious bodily harm.
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers working at El Paso area ports of entry seized a large amount of drugs being smuggled into the country in novel ways. One female was caught hiding fentanyl inside her body, another in a hamburger.
In the past two weeks, CBP El Paso POE agents seized more than 62 pounds of methamphetamine, more than 25 pounds of fentanyl, and more than 158 pounds of marijuana.
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Agents arrested 23 people in relation to a cartel-linked drug operation in Texas that dealt in cocaine, fentanyl, heroin and meth.
The arrests came after a five-year investigation that started in 2019. Prosecutors said the drug ring operated in the Houston and Galveston areas and was under the control of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
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A Chattanooga man received 21 years in prison on Wednesday after pleading guilty to distributing para-fluorofentanyl, a fentanyl analogue, that resulted in the overdose death of 19-year-old Charlotte Gallant.
Jonathan Bash, 25, sold a fentanyl analogue to the boyfriend of Gallant, misrepresenting the drug as ketamine, according to Bash’s plea agreement cited by the Eastern District of Tennessee U.S. Attorney’s Office.
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Peter Schweizer, author of Blood Money: Why the Powerful Turn a Blind Eye While China Kills Americans, said a majority of U.S. leaders are silent on China’s role in inciting American issues due to their personal, financial entanglement with the foreign nation.
Schweizer said his book focuses on a multitude of American issues – including crime and drugs – and details the “overwhelming evidence” connecting China to such issues.
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A 30-year old man from Clarksville has been sentenced to serve 25 years in federal prison for selling fentanyl while on bond for state murder charges, according to the Middle District of Tennessee U.S. Attorney’s Office.
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A new bill that originated in the Tennessee Senate would require drug dealers who contribute to the overdose of drug users to be charged with murder.
SB 1754 was introduced in January and is now making its way through Tennessee Senate committees.
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Gov. Ron DeSantis signed three bills into law on Friday to bolster Florida’s efforts to prevent illegal immigration.
“We’re here today, one, to build off a record of success with respect to combating illegal immigration…if you go back six or seven years in the state of Florida, we were not leading against illegal immigration at all, in fact, we were one of the weaker states,” DeSantis said.
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations (CBP-AMO) agents and U.S. Coast Guard crews are seizing large quantities of cocaine attempting to be smuggled to the U.S. by boat.
In five recent operations, they seized nearly $290 million worth of cocaine totaling over 15,700 pounds. or nearly 8 tons – enough lethal doses to potentially kill more than 82 million people.
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Two more Texas counties declared an invasion at the southern border, bringing the total to 55.
Denton and Williamson counties declared an invasion on March 5, passing short, one-page resolutions.
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The Republican primary for Maricopa County Sheriff just became a lot more interesting, with a second heavy-hitter entering the race, former Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) Director Frank Milstead. Jerry Sheridan, who served as chief deputy under former Sheriff Joe Arpaio, is already in the race, along with several lesser known candidates. Current Democratic Sheriff Paul Penzone is not running for reelection.
Milstead told The Arizona Sun Times that the reason he is running is because as a police officer, he saw how bad the crime is in Maricopa County and felt he needed to do something about it. “I live by the rule that if I’m going to complain about something, I’d better step up and do something about it,” he said.
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The amount of fentanyl seized in Montana last year was over double the amount in 2022, according to Attorney General Austin Knudsen’s office.
In 2023, the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task forces seized a total of 398,552 dosage units of fentanyl, up from 188,823 dosage units compared in 2022 and 60,557 in 2021. Since 2019, fentanyl seizures by state anti-drug forces are up over 20,000%, the office said in a statement.
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The California National Guard seized a record 62,224 pounds of fentanyl in California and the state’s ports of entry – enough of the potent synthetic opioid to kill the entire world population “nearly twice over.”
Since 2021, fentanyl seizures supported by CalGuard have increased by 1066%, according to the governor’s office.
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Mark Elrod, who is currently serving as interim sheriff of Williamson County amid former Sheriff Dusty Rhoades’ retirement, said the biggest issues affecting the county in regards to crime are drugs and fentanyl.
“I would say that probably one of our biggest issues is drugs, narcotics, fentanyl. We’ve had an uptick in that as well as heroin over the last several years. With Williamson County, we’re a transient community where a lot of the drugs and other crimes come in from other areas into Williamson County. It’s not so much your next door neighbor or the people down the street, although there is some of that, but most of it is coming from other places…Davidson County, out of Nashville, out of the city of Columbia. We have four interstates that come through the county, so it could be, you know, really coming from anywhere, everywhere,” Elrod said on Tuesday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy.
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An Arizona bill would increase the criminal penalties for those convicted in a fentanyl-related death.
Senate Bill 1344, introduced by state Sen. Anthony Kern, would make certain fentanyl drug deaths classified as first-degree murder. This means someone could face life behind bars or the death penalty if they are found guilty, according to a state law.
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According to the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD), four of the city’s residents have been arrested following a methamphetamine and fentanyl bust conducted by local, state, and federal authorities.
“A joint investigation by MNPD narcotics detectives, DEA agents and the TBI’s High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force led to Monday’s seizure of 12 pounds of pressed fentanyl pills (approximately 120,000) and 27 pounds of meth arriving in Nashville from California,” MNPD said in press release.
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First Lady of Virginia Suzanne Youngkin and Attorney General Jason Miyares on Tuesday held an event for their new fentanyl awareness initiative, called It Only Takes One. They were joined by Roanoke City Mayor Sherman Lea and the parents of a child who died after overdosing on fentanyl.
“Fentanyl is killing our young people and hurting families across the Commonwealth,” Youngkin said during her speech at the event. She added, “By bringing attention to the dangers of this illicit drug, while giving a voice to victims, we aspire to save lives. Ultimately, caring for one another is our higher calling.”
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A Nashville man has been sentenced to nearly 14 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to a four-count Indictment charging him with distributing and possessing with the intent to distribute, fentanyl, methamphetamine, and heroin, according to the Middle District of Tennessee U.S. Attorney’s Office.
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Country music star Jelly Roll testified in front of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs this week at a hearing entitled “Stopping the Flow of Fentanyl: Public Awareness and Legislative Solutions.”
Thursday’s hearing focused on the FEND Off Fentanyl Act, a bill that would create new economic sanctions authority and money laundering penalties for components of the fentanyl supply chain, including Chinese entities and Mexican cartels.
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Seattle is in King County, Washington, where Joe Biden got 75 percent of the vote in the 2020 election. King County had more than 1,000 drug overdoses involving fentanyl in 2023. These two facts are almost certainly related, but which is the cause and which the effect? Or could it be that both (a) the tendency to vote for Democrats and (b) the addiction to dangerous drugs are caused by some unknown factor? Without a careful analysis of the available data to identify that unknown background factor, is it wrong to hazard a guess that the overdosing dopeheads and Democratic voters in King County are just plain stupid?
Beyond sarcastic put-downs, it behooves those interested in public policy to take a look at what’s going on in places like Seattle, where Democrats dominate and “progressive” ideas therefore advance unhindered by any effective opposition. In the case of King County’s skyrocketing drug overdoses — which increased nearly 50 percent in just the past year — local officials have declared the problem “a public health crisis.” However, fentanyl is illegal, which means that the overdoses are also indicative of a crime problem, and progressives are against putting criminals in prison.
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Three individuals have been arrested for conspiring to distribute over 13 pounds of fentanyl-mixed pills in Nashville, according to the Middle District of Tennessee U.S. Attorney’s Office.
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