Category: fox-news/topic/opioid-crisis

China pushing US fentanyl crisis, House panel report reveals

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The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has subsidized the manufacturing and export of materials used to make fentanyl and other synthetic drugs, according to a new House report.

The bipartisan report found that under the leadership of the CCP, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) gives tax rebates and grants to companies that make certain fentanyl and synthetic drug precursors used by drug traffickers as long as they are sold outside of China.

"Through its actions, as our report has revealed, the Chinese Communist Party is telling us that it wants more fentanyl entering our country," said Rep. Mike Gallagher, the Republican chairman of the special House committee. "It wants the chaos and devastation that has resulted from the epidemic."

The report found that the Chinese government holds ownership interest in several companies tied to drug trafficking, and even thwarted investigations into illicit manufacturers by warning the targets of an investigation when U.S. law enforcement sent a formal request for assistance. 

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The committee also said the PRC has failed to prosecute fentanyl and precursor manufacturers, and found no evidence of new criminal enforcement actions by Beijing.

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., the top Democrat on the committee, said Chinese companies are also currently selling synthetic opioids on their websites, and pointed to a screenshot of one such solicitation that committee staff found just Monday night in advance of the hearing.

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"There are hundreds of these website posts — hundreds," Krishnamoorthi said. "This is completely unacceptable."

Gallagher and Krishnamoorthi called for forming a task force to combat the global illicit fentanyl supply chain and advised for more sanctions against those involved in drug trafficking.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

House Dem tells mother of fentanyl victim she lacks ‘background to understand’ border chief’s impeachment

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Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., told a mother who lost her daughter to fentanyl that she was being "used" by Republicans during a House Homeland Security hearing on Thursday.

Goldman's remarks to Josephine Dunn, whose 26-year-old daughter Ashley lost her life to fentanyl-laced pills, came during the committee's hearing titled "Voices for the Victims: The Heartbreaking Reality of the Mayorkas Border Crisis."

Dunn had been invited by Republicans to take part in the hearing and share the story of how she lost her daughter to fentanyl as Congress continues on with the impeachment proceedings against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Expressing his "sincere condolences" to Dunn for the loss of her daughter, Goldman said that he wanted to "apologize in some ways" to Dunn because she was "being used as a fact witness for an impeachment investigation."

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"Obviously, given what your experience has been, you don't have the background to understand what a high crime and misdemeanor is and how it relates to this," he added in his remarks to Dunn.

Goldman's remarks drew the ire of Dunn, who told the Daily Caller News Foundation on Friday that the lawmaker is "unaware about what my understanding, about what my education, what my experience is in any of those areas when it comes to misdemeanors or high crimes."

"I have my opinions, and for him to assume that I want to just put more money into a system that has had plenty of money placed into it and is still broken is incorrect. Please don’t think for me. I have a brain, I can think and speak for myself," she told the outlet.

During the hearing, Dunn grew visibly frustrated with Goldman as he attempted to question her.

"You would agree, would you not, that it would help to stop the fentanyl trade and fentanyl trafficking from coming into this country if we had more law enforcement officers at the border and more resources and technology to stop the fentanyl from coming in?" he asked Dunn. "Do you agree with that?"

Dunn rejected Goldman's premise, saying "Border Patrol is now being used to make sandwiches and to screen people and let them into our country. So I disagree with you."

Moments later, Dunn added: "I would like the border patrol to be able to do the job that they were hired to do. Every border patrol officer that I have spoken to has told me that their hands are tied by this administration and Mr. Mayorkas. I’ve been to the border, sir, have you?"

Goldman responded that he was the one asking the questions at the hearing.

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Further highlighting the moment in a post to Facebook, Dunn wrote, "Pardon me sir, but you know nothing of my experience, my background or my understanding. Also, in all of my research, you have yet to travel once to the Southern Border of the United States. Is that why you avoided my question?"

"Are you unable to return to your constituency and explain your lack of understanding of the border, lack of experience at the border or was it something else? I would think you could have heard what I actually said. Not what you wanted me to say," she added.

Last September, Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens announced that agents had seized over 2,700 lbs. of fentanyl as part of the more than 69,000 lbs of narcotics seized between ports of entry. The seizures also included 40,000 lbs. of marijuana, 13,000 lbs. of methamphetamine and 11,000 lbs. of cocaine. 

That amount of fentanyl, which does not include the amount seized at ports of entry, is more than enough lethal doses to kill the entire population of the United States. While significantly more is caught at ports of entry – with over 22,000 lbs caught at the ports of entry at the southern border this fiscal year – the stat highlights the danger of fentanyl moving between the ports and potentially past overwhelmed agents in the field.

Opioids were involved in more than 100,000 overdose deaths in 2022. Fentanyl is the most prominent opioid, which is produced primarily in Mexico, using Chinese precursors, and then trafficked across the southern border. The drug is 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine and is often cut with other drugs, meaning that the user doesn’t know that they are ingesting fentanyl.

While opioid deaths have risen sharply in recent years, the Biden administration has pointed to data suggesting that overdose numbers are slowing and has tied that flattening to its drug strategy, which involves going after smugglers, increasing technology at ports of entry and providing additional funding for treatment and prevention within the U.S.

But the administration has faced criticism from Republicans over its handling of the fentanyl crisis, particularly at the southern border, which they say has exacerbated the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. Some Republicans, including those on the 2024 trail, have called for military action in Mexico to take out drug labs run by the cartels.

Fox News' Adam Shaw contributed to this report.

White House blasts GOP for looming shutdown, says it could hurt fentanyl fight: ‘Lives are at stake’

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The White House is claiming that "lives are at stake" as it pushes Republicans to continue funding the government, warning that a potential government shutdown could affect efforts to combat the flow of fentanyl into the U.S.

"Now, House Republicans have a stark choice to make: will they honor their word, meet their responsibility to avoid a shutdown, and act on life and death priorities like fighting the fentanyl crisis?" White House deputy press secretary and senior communications advisor Andrew Bates said in a memo.

The memo comes as Congress and the Biden administration face a looming government shutdown if the government is not funded beyond Sept. 30. President Biden and congressional leaders are eyeing a possible continuing resolution to keep the government open in the short term while larger spending budgets can be debated. However, the new push from the White House is part of an effort to highlight the damage that could be caused if certain funding dries up.

WHITE HOUSE ANNOUNCES ADDITIONAL $450 MILLION IN FUNDING TO FIGHT OPIOID EPIDEMIC 

The White House announced a new tranche of $450 million in funding last week focused on treatment and prevention efforts within the U.S. to stop the opioid crisis — which is linked to 100,000 deaths in 2022. It has also requested approximately $800 million as part of the $40 billion supplemental budget request.

"President Biden is urging Congress to provide $800 million to fight fentanyl trafficking and counter the deadly substance being illegally imported from China," Bates said.

Illicit fentanyl is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, can be fatal in tiny doses and is primarily created in Mexico using Chinese precursors before being moved across the U.S. land border. The drug is frequently pressed into fake pills, so users do not know what they are ingesting.

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Republicans have linked the fentanyl crisis to what they see as a porous southern border and a migrant crisis they blame on the policies of the Biden administration. The administration has said it is taking an approach that both targets trafficking and treats addiction, an approach it says is showing results. 

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Some conservative Republicans in the House have opposed any "clean" continuing resolution to keep the government open past Sept. 30, seeing it as an extension of Democratic funding priorities passed under the last Congress. Instead, they want certain demands met, including a House-passed border security bill that Republicans say would also target the fentanyl crisis by securing the southern border. 

Meanwhile, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., has said she would not vote for any government funding if the House GOP leadership does not open an impeachment inquiry into President Biden. Greene has been attacked by name by the White House, including in the memo Tuesday.

"The White House is attacking me for demanding an impeachment inquiry before I’ll vote to fund one penny to our over bloated $32 TRILLION dollar in debt failing government," Greene wrote in a thread on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Bates’ memo highlighted past comments from Republicans in the caucus, who have called the fentanyl scourge an urgent and pressing crisis affecting the whole nation. It also pointed to polling showing that combating the spread of fentanyl was a top priority for many American voters. 

"The DEA, Border Patrol, and Department of Homeland Security need the anti-fentanyl funding President Biden is seeking," Bates said. "Lives are at stake."

Fox News' Liz Elkind contributed to this report.

Texas Sen. Cornyn tears into Mayorkas over fentanyl, border crisis: ‘You should be fired’

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Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, tore into Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday and said he should be fired over his handling of the ongoing crisis at the southern border and the flow of fentanyl into the U.S.

"My constituents are saying, who's accountable? Who's accountable? Who's paying a price? Who got fired? Well, you haven't been fired. You should be fired," Cornyn said at a Senate Judiciary hearing. "But you haven't been fired because you were carrying out the policies of the Biden administration. And we've seen nothing but death and destruction as a result."

The fiery remarks came as Cornyn quizzed Mayorkas on the flow of fentanyl into the U.S., as well as the ongoing crisis at the southern border -- which saw more than 2.4 million migrant encounters in the U.S. in FY 2022.

More than 70,000 Americans die each year due to fentanyl -- which is primarily produced in Mexico using Chinese precursors and smuggled in across the southern border.

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Mayorkas and Democrats have noted that the majority (about 90%) of fentanyl seizures occur at the ports of entry, and those arrested are typically U.S. citizens. 

But Republicans have pointed to the enormous number of gotaways who slip past Border Patrol agents between ports of entry and have noted that it is impossible to know how much fentanyl is being smuggled in.

This clash was seen earlier in the exchange when Cornyn asked Mayorkas about how cartels are attempting to overwhelm agents, so they can slip drugs past them. Mayorkas said he was not aware of that strategy and attempted to highlight the seizures at ports of entry.

"Approximately 90% of the fentanyl that is brought into…" Mayorkas said.

"That’s a totally made-up number," Cornyn replied, cutting him off. "You had nearly 1 million people get away from Border Patrol…between 2022 and 2023, you have no idea how many of those people were carrying fentanyl or other drugs with them do you?"

"Senator, The expert view I received is that approximately 90%…" Mayorkas said.

"That’s a totally made-up number, and you know it," Cornyn shot back.

Mayorkas repeated his claim that the majority of fentanyl is brought in via vehicles at the ports.

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"The expert view I received is that approximately 90% of the fentanyl is brought in through the ports of entry through passenger vehicles, through trucks, through pedestrians," he said.

Cornyn went on to say that Mayorkas had a "credibility problem with the Congress and the American people."

"I have unflinching confidence in the integrity of my conduct," Mayorkas said.

Mayorkas was on the receiving end of a number of lines of tough questioning from Republicans, who grilled the secretary over his handling of the border crisis. It comes as a number of lawmakers in both the House and the Senate have called for his impeachment over the crisis. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, called him "incompetent" and accused him of being "willing to allow children to be raped to follow political orders."

Mayorkas called the remarks "revolting" and a DHS spokesperson later followed up with a statement backing the secretary.

"Secretary Mayorkas is proud to advance the noble mission of this Department, support its extraordinary workforce, and serve the American people. The Department will continue to enforce our laws and secure our border, protect the nation from terrorism, improve our cybersecurity, all while building a safe, orderly, and humane immigration system. Instead of pointing fingers, Congress should work with the Department and pass legislation to fix our broken immigration system, which has not been updated in over 40 years," the spokesperson said.