An essay from the Cato Institute challenges the narrative that illegal border crossings are the primary source of fentanyl smuggling and highlights the importance of addressing the root causes of the opioid crisis.
According to the essay, funding for fentanyl smuggling primarily comes from U.S. consumers, with nearly 99 percent of these consumers being U.S. citizens. In 2021, individuals with U.S. citizenship accounted for 86.3 percent of those convicted of fentanyl drug trafficking, according to the Cato essay, a figure tenfold higher than the convictions of illegal immigrants for the same crime.
More than 90 percent of fentanyl seizures take place at official border crossings and interior vehicle checkpoints, rather than along illegal migration paths, indicating that U.S. citizens, subject to less scrutiny while crossing legally, are more effective at smuggling narcotics, according to Cato.
The essay argues that the presence of asylum seekers at the border should not be blamed for fentanyl smuggling, as the data shows that only a tiny fraction (0.02 percent) of the 1.8 million arrests made by Border Patrol for illegal border crossings resulted in fentanyl seizures, and many of these seizures occurred at vehicle checkpoints within the U.S. Claims that asylum seekers distract Border Patrol from drug interdiction efforts do not hold up, as there is no noticeable impact on drug seizure trends based on factors such as time, location, distance from the border, or the share of seizures at ports of entry versus elsewhere. Legalizing asylum at ports of entry would effectively eliminate any hypothetical concerns regarding this issue.
The author of the report concludes that the ban on asylum and travel restrictions have not curbed the fentanyl crisis; instead, they have exacerbated it by promoting more smuggling and diverting attention from the real issues. To address the opioid epidemic and save lives, policymakers should focus on addiction treatment and harm reduction policies rather than blaming external factors like foreigners.
