(Kenneth Schrupp, The Center Square) – California seized over one million fentanyl pills just last week, more than was seized in all of February, highlighting how much smuggling of drugs and illegal immigrants has shifted to California since Texas strengthened its border.
In September, California Governor Gavin Newsom increased the California National Guard’s San Diego border region presence from 40 to 60 soldiers for narcotics operations.
“We are doing our job to keep illegal drugs off the streets of California,” Newsom said in a statement. “By working with our state, local and federal partners, we are continuing to crack down on drug trafficking in our communities.”
A California bill to strip sanctuary state protections from fentanyl dealers failed in committee two weeks ago amid strong Democratic opposition. The bill’s author said law enforcement is significantly hampered from following through on drug trafficking investigations regarding illegal immigrants due to the state’s sanctuary state protections limiting federal and local law enforcement interactions regarding illegal immigrant criminal suspects.
According to exclusive interviews with The Center Square, Operation Lone Star — Texas’s effort to, with limited federal assistance, defend its border against drug smuggling and human trafficking is so successful that illegal entry is moving westward to California, Arizona, and New Mexico.
The goal of OLS is for “all of us to come together and get them out of our counties and Texas. Our overall goal is to deny the ability of the transnational criminal organization from making a profit so that they’ll go to New Mexico” and further west said Goliad County Sheriff Roy Boyd to The Center Square.
The efforts appear to be working, with seizures in Arizona and California on the rise. Last year, California seized enough fentanyl to kill the world “nearly twice over.”
More than 1.7 million individuals illegally entered the United States in the last six months, a record number. While Texas border crossings have plummeted to Trump-era levels, record crossings in Democrat-run California, Arizona, and New Mexico are more than offsetting the Texas decrease.
California provides perhaps the most generous benefits to illegal immigrants, which include access to taxpayer-funded Medi-Cal. Across all three states, illegal immigrants — especially asylum seekers — qualify for cash assistance and other educational, health, and aid programs.
