Washington Post is Mystified by Decline in Fentanyl Seizures at Southern Border
White House Karoline Leavitt derided the article, and many others mocked the lack of attribution to Trump’s border policies for the substantial reduction in numbers.
There has been a significant and widely discussed reduction in the amount of fentanyl seized at the U.S. border, particularly along the Southwest border with Mexico, in early 2025. This trend marks a sharp departure from previous years, which saw record increases in fentanyl seizures and related overdose deaths.
Between January and April 2025, authorities seized approximately 3,159 pounds of fentanyl at U.S. borders, which is 48% less than what had been seized by the same point in 2024.
The Washington Post struggles to credit the results to anything other than the border enforcement policies of President Donald Trump, as well as his administration’s efforts to curtail the illegal trade of this addictive opioid.
The White House says the drop is “thanks to President Trump’s policies empowering law enforcement officials to dismantle drug trafficking networks.” Yet the decline started before Trump took office in January. (While officials only manage to detect part of the fentanyl crossing the border, the figure serves as a proxy for supply).
The contraction represents something of a mystery, say antidrug agents and researchers. Are Mexican cartels producing less fentanyl? Or have they simply found new ways to sneak it across the border? Fentanyl is still cheap and widely available in the United States, according to analysts and drug enforcement agents.
…U.S. seizures at the Mexican border are down almost 30 percent for the first half of this fiscal year, compared with the same period in 2024. They have shrunk by even more since the first half of 2023 — from 13,804 pounds to 6,749 pounds. (Those numbers are for the first six months of each fiscal year, which starts in October).
“One cannot deny there is a big drop,” said Vanda Felbab-Brown, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who studies the fentanyl crisis. “How long it’s going to last is the critical thing.”
The data is heartening. However, the presentation of the facts left a lot to be desired.
In fact, the report has been widely ridiculed.
It’s no mystery. On day one, @POTUS Trump closed our borders to drug traffickers. From March 2024 to March 2025 fentanyl traffic at the southern border fell by 54%.
The world has heard the message loud and clear. pic.twitter.com/7RJVY8ISwS
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) June 2, 2025
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt derided The Washington Post article.
“This administration’s strong border policies are the reason there has been a decrease in fentanyl trafficking.”
“His strengthened relationship with Mexican President Sheinbaum and all of the measures he has been taking to deter illegal human and drug trafficking at our United States southern border is the reason for plummeting fentanyl seizures at the U.S. Border.”
“There is NOTHING mysterious about that, and we’d like to see The Washington Post update their headline accordingly.”
The comments were scathing.
It’s a real mystery. Perplexing, baffling, inexplicable even. What could have possibly changed in the last few months to cause such a bewildering drop in fentanyl seizures along our southern border?
The hard-hitting journalists at Wa-Po are on the case! 🤡 https://t.co/qeGxmQZQtA pic.twitter.com/ZiLWgOJoqF
— Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) June 1, 2025
The good news is that the trends look more positive than they have in a long time. Provisional data from the CDC show a significant decline in overall drug overdose deaths in the United States for 2024, with a decrease of nearly 27% compared to 2023. Overdose deaths involving opioids—including fentanyl—fell from an estimated 83,140 in 2023 to 54,743 in 2024, marking the lowest annual drug overdose death total since 2019.
With Trump’s continued emphasis on border security and pushing back on cartel operations, the numbers will continue to improve.
And when they do, I bet The Washington Post will still remain mystified.
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Comments
Enlistment in the military increased shortly after Trump was re-elected, because those considering military service knew they wouldn’t be treated like dirt in a Trump administration.
Is it maybe possible the cartels can also make simple predictions, and slowed the supply of fentynal for fear of angering Trump?
Yep, it’s a real head-scratcher. 🙄
Washington Post is mystified.
They’re not the only ones. Biden was mystified the whole time he was president.
He asked a couple of times where he was and what was going on, but nobody would tell him.
C.S. Lewis could have written a very short book based on Biden…. The Wardroom. He already was ly’n and had the witch….
That’s a good one.
Biden was in more than a myst. He was in a fog.
He’s an empty vessel.
Mystery? Media bias is one thing but the WAPO pretending to be stupidly ignorant seems like a new spin. Not sure the strategy of ‘we’re too stupid and ignorant to evaluate comprehensive facts, make a reasoned analysis and present an informed opinion/judgement is gonna work out for them long term. I suspect more firings will be coming to the WAPO.
Fox Butterfield! Paging Fox Butterfield! Please call your office.
For Pravda on the Potomac, simple things always appear complex.
Bezos needs to hire someone to do the thinking for the WaPo.
MarxGPT!
Hunter Biden is available. He has experience thinking I think.
Speaking of thinking, I was just thinking how my genuine Hunter abstract art has become as worthless as WaPo.
“Overdose deaths involving opioids—including fentanyl—fell from an estimated 83,140 in 2023 to 54,743 in 2024, marking the lowest annual drug overdose death total since 2019.”
Interesting. Watch out for lefties claiming that the Biden administration, which was in charge of counternarcotics in 2024, was responsible for the drop and not Trump’s policies. Do recall that the Biden administration started enforcing immigration law in 2024 as a tactic to improve their re-election chances.
The Washington Post has stumbled into a fact. They need a little time and a lot of sympathy.