FENTANYL

stateofbidet

90% of illegal fentanyl is seized at official border crossings by people who are authorized to cross that border, the majority of those being United States Citizens. Undocumented immigrants also buy things and pay sales taxes, and very large numbers of them also have federal and state tax withholding in their paychecks. IIRC they either overstay visas or have ITINs they use to pay taxes. They also aren't entitled to things like Social security/disability payouts so they're not even getting anything out of it. However, it does not rile up the voting base if you loudly proclaim "WE WILL GIVE A PATH TO CITIZENSHIP TO IMMIGRANTS ALREADY PAYING TAXES AND PARTICIPATING IN THE ECONOMY" vs appealing to fear and anger via "ILLEGAL ALIENS DONT PAY TAXES AT ALL AND THEY'RE SENDING US INSANE ASYLUM PATIENTS AND ENTIRE GANGS AND THEY'RE MURDERING HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE EVERY YEAR WITH FENTANYL" The real total in 2024 is around 25 murders by undocumented immigrants. If you add fentanyl to that total you might hit hundreds of thousands, but again, the vast vast majority of those deaths get their illegal fentanyl from someone who is authorized to cross the border and chooses to traffic. on a related note: One of the VP candidates this cycle has a mother who struggled and beat an opiod addiction. He usually follows this with rhetoric about the southern border and fentanyl. Just wanted to point out that she became addicted to pain pills at her nursing job and followed that up with heroin after she was caught. The VP candidate tries to make it sound like she's 100% a victim of undocumented immigrants though. Also, I am glad she was able to make a full recovery, as our country's reaction to Opiod and other addictions will be a stain on our legacy for decades to come.