US Border Meth & Cocaine Seizures Rising; Other Drug Seizure Numbers Drop
Fentanyl among drugs seized less often on border
This week’s US Border Newsletter offers a closer look at drug seizure trends - and some interesting stories are emerging (Charts are from a recent report by WOLA.org).
METH SEIZURES ARE WAY UP:
Meth seizures - which had been trending down at the US Southern Border from 2021-2023 are trending up again. From 2018-2023 Meth seizures dramatically increased along the Southern Border by 93% - so a renewal of that trend is concerning.
Notable Trend: Since 2020, like cocaine, 84 percent of methamphetamine seizures have occurred in the westernmost and easternmost parts of the border (the San Diego CBP field office and Border Patrol sector in California; the Laredo CBP field office and Rio Grande Valley Border Patrol sector in Texas). San Diego has seen 61 percent of all meth seizures (60% since fiscal 2024), south Texas has seen 23 percent (25% since fiscal 2024).
COCAINE SEIZURES ARE UP AS WELL:
During the same period (2018-2023) Cocaine seizures also increased along the Southern Border by 23%.
Notable Trend: Since 2020, 82 percent of cocaine seizures have occurred in the westernmost and easternmost parts of the border (the San Diego CBP field office and Border Patrol sector in California; the Laredo CBP field office and Rio Grande Valley Border Patrol sector in Texas). San Diego has seen 48 percent of all cocaine seizures (53% since fiscal 2024), and South Texas has seen 34 percent (25% since fiscal 2024).
FENTANYL SEIZURES TRENDING DOWN:
Fentanyl seizures continue dropping in fiscal 2025, which began in October: the 5,409 pounds seized between October and January are 22 percent fewer than the 6,932 pounds seized between October 2023 and January 2024, and 38 percent fewer than the 8,673 pounds seized during the same period two years earlier.
Preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention support this finding at the border. In a welcome development, drug overdose deaths in the United States appear to have declined nearly 24 percent in a single year, from fiscal 2023 to 2024.
Notable Trend: Arizona and California account for 96 percent of all border-wide fentanyl seizures since 2020. However, Arizona’s share has increased in recent years, to 61 percent of all seizures in the 16 months since fiscal 2024 compared to 36 percent for California (the two states are nearly equal—48 percent of the total—since 2020).
MARIJUANA & HEROIN SEIZURES AT RECORD LOW LEVELS:
As recently as the late 2010s, CBP’s seizures of marijuana were in the high hundreds of thousands of pounds per year. By fiscal 2024, they had dropped to 56,390 pounds. The main reason is the regulation and legalization of cannabis markets in many U.S. states, which has rendered importation from Mexico largely unnecessary, though it still happens.
Notable Trend: Unlike other, more compact drugs, marijuana gets seized primarily between the ports of entry by Border Patrol: 80 percent of fiscal 2024 seizures and 71 percent of 2025’s seizures so far.
Heroin seizures, too, continue to drop as opioid suppliers turn to synthetics like fentanyl, cutting opium poppy suppliers out of the picture. As late as 2021, CBP was seizing about 5,000 or more pounds of heroin each year at the border, usually more than 85 percent of it at ports of entry. That fell by 2024 to just 961 pounds.
Notable Trend: Heroin seizures during the first four months of fiscal 2025 already total 502 pounds, 89 percent ahead of where they were during the first four months of fiscal 2024.
NOTE: This summary was generated from a far more comprehensive weekly summary by wola.org, which you can read HERE. (If you found this summary helpful, we invite you to support WOLA’s work).
We remain committed to delivering a US Border Newsletter that is not only educational and insightful but also engaging and easy to digest in five minutes or less.
Abrazos,
Jack Beavers
