The Washington Publish is being mocked on-line and by the White Home for “pathetic” reporting on what the liberal-leaning information outlet calls a “mysterious” decline in fentanyl flowing throughout the border.
Fentanyl is a harmful drug that’s typically trafficked into the USA throughout the southern and northern borders by cartels and different felony components.
In 2024, fentanyl was linked to the demise of 48,422 individuals in the USA, in accordance with the CDC.
Throughout his marketing campaign, President Donald Trump vowed to wage a conflict in opposition to fentanyl traffickers by way of elevated border safety and by cracking down on unlawful immigration.
Since taking workplace, Trump has deployed U.S. troops to the southern border, focused cartels and transnational felony teams as “foreign terrorist organizations” and hit cartel leaders with sanctions.
In keeping with the Middle for Immigration Research (CIS), the U.S. legislation enforcement seizures of fentanyl, which the group explains is a “key indicator of broader total smuggling at and between the southern border’s ports of entry,” have dropped 50% for the reason that November election.
CIS states that this important decline signifies a “greater decline in total fentanyl smuggling.”
The Washington Publish experiences on this decline, stating that U.S. seizures on the southern border are down by virtually 30 p.c in contrast with the identical interval in 2024.
The outlet, nevertheless, states that the drop “represents something of a mystery.”
“After years of confiscating rising amounts of fentanyl, the opioid that has fueled the most lethal drug epidemic in American history, U.S. officials are confronting a new and puzzling reality at the Mexican border. Fentanyl seizures are plummeting,” wrote the Publish.
Among the many doable causes listed by the outlet are cartels discovering different methods to smuggle the drug into the U.S., cartel inside strife, ingredient shortages and a doable decline in demand.
Although baffled by the rationale for the decline, The Washington Publish posited that “public health authorities are concerned that the Trump administration’s budget cuts could hurt programs that have promoted overdose antidotes and addiction treatment.”
The article was extensively mocked by conservatives on-line.
Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., commented on X, “The Washington Post is reporting a ‘mysterious drop’ in fentanyl seizures at the southern border. Mystery solved! The Trump effect is working.”
Charlie Kirk, a preferred conservative influencer, additionally commented, saying: “Four months into the Trump administration, The Washington Post is marveling at the ‘mysterious’ drop in fentanyl seizures on the Mexican border … Is the Post simply lying, or are their reporters as dumb as the people they’re writing propaganda for?”
The Division of Homeland Safety’s official X account additionally replied, commenting: “It’s no mystery. On day one, [President] Trump closed our borders to drug traffickers.”
DHS mentioned that “from March 2024 to March 2025 fentanyl traffic at the southern border fell by 54%.”
“The world has heard the message loud and clear,” mentioned DHS.
A number of prime White Home spokespersons additionally weighed in. White Home Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt merely referred to as the Publish “pathetic,” and White Home Communications Director Steven Cheung mentioned: “They can’t stand that President Trump’s strong border policies have led to a DECREASE in fentanyl coming into the U.S.”
Abigail Jackson, one other White Home spokeswoman, informed Fox Information Digital that “the drop in fentanyl seizures at the border is only a mystery to Washington Post reporters suffering from Trump-Derangement Syndrome.”
“As of March, fentanyl traffic at the Southern Border had fallen by more than half from the same time last year – while Joe Biden’s open border was still terrorizing America,” mentioned Jackson. “Everyone else knows the simple truth: President Trump closed our border to illegal drug traffickers and Americans are safer because of it.”
The Washington Publish didn’t instantly reply to a request by Fox Information Digital for remark.
