Fentanyl busts at the U.S.-Mexico border break records during 2022 

Fentanyl busts at the U.S.-Mexico border have surged this past year, breaking several records, according to Fox News. 

This year alone, the Drug Enforcement Administration seized more than 379 million doses of fentanyl, enough deadly doses of the drug to kill every American. 

"A decade ago, we didn’t even know about fentanyl, and now it’s a national crisis," U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman said in a press release in August. "The amount of fentanyl we are seizing at the border is staggering."

Due to its size, shape, and potency, fentanyl can be easily transported across borders. Some pills have been made to look like regular prescription drugs, such as Xanax and Oxycotin, while others have been painted different colors to make them look like candy. 

Fentanyl pills are small enough that authorities have found them hidden inside candy boxes, pumpkins, hollowed-out dictionaries, Lego boxes, and tamales.  

Last October alone, U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized 1,825.72 pounds of fentanyl along the southern borders, and signaling a significant increase in this year's trafficking rate from the 11,904 pounds of fentanyl that were seized last year. 

About 60% of the drug seizures in 2022 were reported in the San Diego and Imperial Counties ports of entry in Southern California, according to the Justice Department. Other areas across the border, however, have also seen spikes in fentanyl smuggling attempts and have set records of their own. 

According to the DEA, two Mexican criminal cartels are behind the supply of fentanyl being smuggled across the border—the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels. The agency has said that the criminal organization is using chemicals shipped from China to create the fentanyl pills in undercover factories, which are then shipped to the U.S.

Between 2019 and 2020, fentanyl-related overdose deaths increased by 350%. Additionally, in 2021, around 77% of adolescent deaths were related to the drug.