Hawkeye Reporter

Opioid-related deaths in Iowa have increased 35% during the pandemic, part of a national trend created some say by an influx of fentanyl at the southwest borders where cartels and other criminal organizations have taken advantage of the migrant crisis.

According to “The Drug Seizure Statistics” tool run by U.S. Customs and Borders Protection, agents seized 9,337 pounds of fentanyl at the end of July, a 94% increase from 2020, The Washington Free Beacon reported. The agency's data indicates the majority of the 1,110 seizures occurred on the southwest border where cartel operations increase during times of migrant surges. There were 212,000 migrant encounters in July, the most in 21 years, according to the agency.

The influx of fentanyl comes at a time when overdoses from the drug are becoming epidemic. All-time records were set this year. More than 93,000 Americans died from drug overdose in 2020 — a 29% increase from the previous year and the biggest one-year jump since 2016, The Washington Free Beacon reported.

Fatal opioid overdoses in Iowa increased 20% between 2019 and 2020 as mental health issues arose from isolation and other ramifications of the pandemic, the Car Law Firm reported citing a Des Moines Register story.

Meanwhile, an increase of drug entry through the southern borders fueled an already troubling opioid crisis as border agents turned their attention from drug prevention to migrant control. The impact has filtered throughout the country.

More than 200 Iowans died from opioid-related overdoses last year, the highest number in the past five years, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health. Of those deaths, more than three-fourths had taken a synthetic opioid such as fentanyl, KCRG reported.

“The individual doesn’t know what they’re using,” Kevin Gabbert of the Iowa Department of Public Health said. “They may think that they’re using heroin, but when they use a substance and it contains fentanyl, fentanyl is 50 times more powerful than morphine, so it’s really a dangerous situation they’re placing themselves in."

Since 1991, 70% percent of the 841,000 death by overdose have been from opioids, The Washington Free Beacon reported. Experts suggest just two milligrams of fentanyl can cause a lethal overdose to people with no tolerance for the drug, which means the amount seized by U.S. Customs and Borders Protection through July could potentially kill two billion people.

West Virginia is among the states unhappy with the decision by President Joe Biden's administration to end the so called Trump-era Migrant Protection Protocols. The controversial Trump-era policy which called for asylum seekers to remain in Mexico before their court dates in the United States. Those who favor the policy say it deters migrants and allows border officials to use their resources on criminals like those who traffic opioids.

West Virginia filed a lawsuit Aug. 19 against the Department of Homeland Security and against Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over his decision to end the policy, citing the “devastating deadly flood of fentanyl across the Southwest border.”

The Supreme Court ordered the Biden administration to reinstate the policy on Aug. 24, and the Department of Homeland Security has reportedly been working on instituting a modified version of the policy, The Washington Free Beacon reported.