Peach Tree Times

President Joe Biden continues to push for an open border policy that critics claim could exasperate the nation's opioid problem.

The death rate due to fentanyl increased last year, and Border Patrol agents claim they do not have adequate manpower to do their jobs. Experts reported that Mexican drug cartels are taking advantage of the chaotic influx of migrants at the border to smuggle thousands of pounds of deadly fentanyl into the country. 

The state of Georgia saw more than a 50% increase in fentanyl-involved overdose deaths in one year, according to a late March press release from the Georgia Department of Public Health. These deaths have increased in the state since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Fentanyl-involved overdose deaths increased 106.2% between May 1, 2020, and April 30, 2021, compared to the same time period the previous year.

This information caused Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to blame the Biden administration on social media.

"The cartels are exploiting Biden's open border and poisoning our country with fentanyl," Cruz said on Twitter. 

Provisional data was issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics, according to a press release. The data showed that approximately 107,600 people died from drug overdoses in 2021. Deaths from synthetic opioids such as fentanyl surpassed any other substance. Fentanyl deaths in 2021 (71,238) rose by over 20% from 2020 (57,834). 

Critics said that the problem is further exasperated by the Biden administration's plan to lift Title 42. This is a pandemic-era policy to prevent migrants from illegally entering the United States at its border with Mexico. An injunction was granted in May by U.S. District Judge Robert Summerhays of Louisiana, preventing the administration from lifting Title 42, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

The New York Post, citing data from CBP, noted that more than 90% of 10,000 pounds of fentanyl seized during Fiscal Year 2021 occurred at legal border entry sites in Arizona and California. Approximately 30% of migrants enter the U.S. through these states each day.

This angers Robert Almonte, a Texas-based security consultant who served as deputy chief of the El Paso Police Department.  

"This is a crisis," Almonte told the New York Post. "I get mad because I don't think people get mad enough about what’s happening."

In addition to production in pill form, fentanyl is being mixed with other drugs, including heroin and cocaine, in an effort to increase their potency, according to the New York Post. This increases the drugs' potency and makes them more lethal.

Almonte told the New York Post that more people are dying from fentanyl overdoses than guns, suicide, and traffic accidents combined. 

"Border Patrol agents are too busy dealing with the influx of migrants, and are not really focused on looking for fentanyl,” he said. "Border agents are not getting the support they need from the federal government to stop the flow of fentanyl, which is killing thousands of Americans."

There were 20.4 million counterfeit pills seized last year, according to a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) press release. That is enough to provide a fatal dose for every American.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is preparing for up to 18,000 migrants each day at the U.S.-Mexico border if Title 42 is lifted, ABC News reported.