Commissioner Jacob Helberg of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission stated that "100K+ Americans a year are dying" while drug cartels thrive. Helberg made the statement in a post on X on May 21.
"Drug cartels are thriving," said Helberg. "100K+ Americans a year are dying. Something has to change."
According to the 2024 Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) National Drug Threat Assessment, fentanyl is named the deadliest drug in American history, taking the lives of 38,000 Americans in the first six months of 2023. The Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels have enabled the presence of fentanyl in all 50 U.S. states, producing the drug in Mexico and smuggling it into the United States for profit.
Helberg's X post.
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According to Border Report, violence between the rival Jalisco New Generation and Sinaloa cartels is expected to increase with the change of presidential administration in Mexico on October 1.
In 2019, a group of American women and children were ambushed by members of the Juarez cartel in Sonora, reported Fox News. A total of three mothers and six children were killed when cartel members barraged their vehicles with gunfire. The violence was answered by a federal lawsuit in May 2024.
Helberg is also a senior advisor to the CEO of Palantir Technologies and serves as Commissioner for the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, according to the Commission's website. He is also the author of "The Wires of War: Technology and the Global Struggle for Power."
