Attorney General Schmidt: Kansas Sees Large Spikes in Fentanyl Seizures, Drug Overdoses

Record amounts of fentanyl and other drugs are being seized in Kansas after they’ve made their way north from Mexico and the state’s attorney general, Derek Schmidt, said he is trying to stop it. He joined a coalition of other Republican attorneys general at the Texas-Mexico border to see first-hand how the Biden administration’s open border policies are contributing to crime in Kansas.

In one briefing with the Texas Department of Public Safety, the AGs learned that Texas state troopers alone had seized enough fentanyl last year to kill over 200 million people. They also arrested more than 10,000 illegal immigrants for committing state crimes, including for child trafficking and drug smuggling, seized over five tons of methamphetamine, and over $17 million in cash as part of Operation Lone Star, Texas’ border security initiative.

While it’s “good news that they’re seizing more, there’s no reason to think that there’s less of it eluding seizure at the border because the border’s wide open in large swaths,” Schmidt told The Center Square. “I don’t think it’s a good news number. I think it’s an indication of the increased volume coming across the border, not an indication of increased success in stopping it at the border.”

Schmidt visited Texas after authorities seized more fentanyl across Missouri, Kansas and southern Illinois last year than in the previous two years. The Drug Enforcement Agency – St. Louis division reported a record 188 kilograms of fentanyl seized last year compared to 82 kilograms in 2020 and 104 kilograms in 2019. DEA agents and task force officers also seized 1,848 kilograms of methamphetamine, 73 kilograms of heroin, 347 weapons, and $15.8 million in cash… (Excerpts from the Virginia Star)