(NewsNation Now) — U.S. Customs and Border Protection reports a 1,066% increase in the amount of fentanyl seized in the last fiscal year in south Texas.
87,652 pounds of narcotics, including 588 pounds of fentanyl, were seized at eight ports from Brownsville to Del Rio, Texas. The street value of the drugs is worth $786 million, CBP said.
Fentanyl, the deadliest drug in the United States, is 50 times more powerful than heroin, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency.
“Most of the narcotics want to go bigger cities: San Antonio, Dallas, Houston or up north,” said Maverick County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Robert De Leon. De Leon says meth seizures are common as well. He says he arrests two to three people per day.
Agents are also seeing a spike in repeat drug trafficking offenders who have been arrested in the U.S., deported and have come back without consequence.
Local officials say they’d like more resources and stiffer penalties from the federal government for illegal drug trafficking and migrant crossings at the border.