Drew Wrigley, Attorney General of North Dakota, stated that the border crisis allows cartels to use North Dakota as a "significant target region" for drug trafficking, noting that every state has become a border state. Wrigley provided his written testimony on May 29 at a Congressional hearing for the Judiciary Committee titled "Biden Border Crisis: North Dakota Perspectives."
"While someone unfamiliar with our state might be forgiven for assuming that narcotics trafficking is something that happens elsewhere, the people of North Dakota are well aware that our state has become a significant target region for narcotics produced in Mexico, smuggled across the relatively open international border between Mexico and the United States, then sold at a dramatic profit in my relatively prosperous state," said Wrigley. "Methamphetamine, marijuana, and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl are the poisons most commonly trafficked to North Dakota from Mexico. A quick view of the basic economics of fentanyl, by way of just one example, illustrates the problem exacerbated by the lax border policies of the Biden administration. As has been noted elsewhere, the catastrophically porous southwest border of the United States has led to the present reality that all of America is now a border state."
According to Wrigley’s testimony, traffickers target North Dakota for the "premium price" at which they are able to sell drugs in the state. He said, "A quick view of the basic economics of fentanyl, by way of just one example, illustrates the problem exacerbated by the lax border policies of the Biden administration."
The National Drug Threat Assessment, put forth by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), names fentanyl as the deadliest drug in American history, taking the lives of 38,000 Americans in the "first six months of 2023 alone." The Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels have enabled the presence of fentanyl in nearly all 50 US states, producing it in Mexico and smuggling it into the United States for profit.
North Dakota has previously been a setting for trafficking operations. According to the Department of Justice and the Office of the Attorney General in the District of North Dakota, Juan Sillas-Rocha, a leader of Arellano-Felix drug cartel, was convicted and found guilty of drug trafficking in Fargo in 2023.
Wrigley expressed concern for national safety: "Our respective states are faced with the stunning reality that our communities are in danger…significant numbers of our foreign adversaries have made their way into our midst and are undermining public safety and long-term national security."
Wrigley has served as the North Dakota Attorney General since 2021.
