Customs and Border Protection drug seizures decline under Biden

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers are seizing fewer drugs under President Joe Biden.

CBP data shows that agents during fiscal year 2022 are seizing a fraction of the drugs they were in previous years.

From October 2021, when fiscal year 2022 began, to April 2022, CBP agents seized about 390,000 pounds of drugs.

By this point last fiscal year, CBP officers had seized more than 535,000 pounds of drugs. However, October through January operated under Trump administration policies before Biden took office.

While CBP does not display monthly data before October 2018, purely by pounds, the agency appears to be on track to seize the smallest amount of drugs in at least a decade.

One rising area is seizures of the incredibly deadly fentanyl, which increased in March and April. The opioid became the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18-45 last year.

Marijuana seizures at the border hit record lows as many U.S. states have legalized the drug.

Border patrol agents "feel defeated" under the Biden administration's policies, Border Patrol Union President Brandon Judd said last month. Agents are overwhelmed with the number of illegal migrants coming over the border and resources are being greatly stretched, he said.

Former acting CBP commissioner Mark Morgan connected historic levels of illegal immigration to the rise in American overdose deaths. 

"Record amounts of fentanyl have been seized coming across the border since President Biden took office – and that is just the fentanyl we know about. It’s the drugs that aren’t being seized that are the critical problem," he said last month.