Cross-border drug traffic peaking thanks to focus on migrant crisis, US drug czar says
More drugs than ever are flowing into the US from south of the border as federal resources have been diverted to the migrant crisis, leaving Border Patrol hopelessly overstretched, the US drug policy chief has warned.
“Seizures are down, and it’s not because there are less drugs coming in,” James Carroll, director of the US Office of Drug Control Policy, told Breitbart on Thursday, lamenting that the US’ immigration system is encouraging an unmanageable influx of migrants and forcing Border Patrol to expend its resources on managing the “humanitarian need.”
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Condemning the “broken system” that allows illegals to be “released into the country with a slip of paper and then they disappear,” Carroll insisted the US must stop “encouraging these people to come.” He pointed out that while single males used to comprise the majority of illegal border-crossers, more than half now have a child with them, aware that appearing to be a family increases their chances of being allowed to stay – and explained that many were paying drug smugglers thousands of dollars for passage.
“We’re going to save lives by closing that border and stopping that poison in from killing our kids” with the support of the Trump administration, Carroll declared. He touted the administration’s work on the opioid crisis, noting that 2018 was the first time in 30 years the number of overdose deaths had actually declined, but warned “we can’t declare success. There’s so much more to do.”
Mexican drug lord El Chapo was sentenced to life in a US prison this week. His Sinaloa cartel, a multibillion-dollar operation, is believed to be the most powerful drug trafficking organization in the US, with tentacles reaching into law enforcement on both sides of the border. During his trial, El Chapo’s defense alleged he was being “scapegoated” to allow another trafficker to walk free – one who had paid off both governments in order to maintain his empire.
And the Mexican border is far from the only channel for illicit drugs entering the US. Authorities seized nearly 20 tons of cocaine, worth $1.3 billion, from a cargo ship owned by JP Morgan last month, the third massive drug haul in six months from the same Swiss operating company. And opium production in Afghanistan has reached unprecedented heights under the US’ watch, dominating global trade in the drug. While much of the heroin fueling the still-raging US epidemic comes from Central and South America, over 400 tons of Afghan heroin enters the US every year.
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