Del Rio, Texas – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis took to Twitter to discuss the fentanyl crisis at the Texas border on July 18.
“In the last month alone, 1,050 lbs. of the deadly narcotic fentanyl was seized at the southwest border. This is enough to kill 72% of the U.S. population. 27 times more fentanyl was seized in June 2021 compared to June 2018,” DeSantis tweeted.
His tweet came shortly after a press conference that he and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott held in Del Rio, Texas where they discussed the surge of illegal immigration into the state.
“In the month of May, there was about an 800 percent increase in the number of people coming across the border,” Governor Abbott said in the press conference. From April 2020 to April 2021, he explained, illegal immigration reached about a 1000 percent increase.
With the massive influx of illegal immigration, many states have seen the growth of deadly narcotics such as fentanyl smuggled across the Texas border. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid up to 100 times more potent than morphine.
Abbott indicated the surge of illegal immigration and deadly narcotics such as fentanyl at the Texas border will affect other states as well: “What happens at the border may be happening here today, but it will be happening in these other states tomorrow or next week or next month,” Abbott said. “This is a situation where all states need to be a part of the process of stepping up because the best place to interdict this criminal activity is not in Florida; it’s not in Iowa; it’s right here on the border.”
Within the last year, fentanyl seizures have been up 719 percent at border entries, according to NBC news. During the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns, most states noticed a major spike in drug overdoses 2020, many of which were fentanyl-related.
The press conference follows Gov. Abbott’s announcement last month that he plans to spend $250 million on a barrier wall to secure the Texas border. The border wall will also be crowdfunded.
