Grand Canyon Times

In an interview at the end of July, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas insisted the border was "secure."

But U.S. Customs and Border Protection recently released their operational statistics for the month of July, and the number of arrests at the southern border during the agency’s fiscal year so far is nearing 2 million, a record high. The number of open border-related fentanyl seizures during the same time is also at an all-time high and is worsening the nation’s drug-related overdose and death epidemic.

In Arizona, the opioid crisis has brought nearly 2,000 overdoses this year.

With Border Patrol agents facing historic migrant numbers at the southern border, Mayorkas claimed "the southern border is secure" upon being asked about the topic at the Aspen Security Forum in July.

So far in Fiscal Year 2022, which runs Oct. 1, 2021, through Sept. 30, 2022, U.S. Border Patrol agents have reportedly made approximately 1,822,160 arrests at the southern border; the most recent data released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) showed.

In July alone, there were 199,976 encounters along the southwest land border. CBP nationwide total encounter data for FY22TD through July showed that fentanyl seizures across the border have already increased 203% when compared to the previous fiscal year.

CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus noted that July marked the second month in a row of decreased encounters.

"While the encounter numbers remain high, this is a positive trend and the first two-month drop since October 2021,” he said in the report.

The current border arrest number so far in fiscal year 2022 already beats the record set last fiscal year, which was 1.66 million apprehensions in the year ending September 2021; a Wall Street Journal report said.

"How insulting is it that DHS Secretary Mayorkas says the border is 'secure' when: Border patrol agents need help," the Republican State Leadership Committee said in a recent Twitter post. "Our fentanyl crisis is worsening. CBP numbers keep rising. Families' lives are in danger & this admin keeps turning a blind eye."

Fentanyl overdoses are officially the leading cause of death for Americans 18 to 45, followed by suicide, COVID-19 and car accidents; an April report on Narconon.org said. Fentanyl is tied to 64% of drug overdose deaths and is most commonly laced in cocaine, heroine, ecstasy, Xanax, oxycontin and marijuana sold on the streets.

In 2021, an estimated 107,622 drug overdose deaths occurred in the United States, setting a new record; provisional data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics showed. The data also revealed that the number of deaths related to synthetic opioids (fentanyl) far outpaced that of any other drug. Fentanyl deaths rose 23% from 2020 (57,834) to 2021 (71,238).

Data from the Arizona Department of Health Services shows that the number of confirmed opioid deaths in the state rose 55% from 2019 (1,294 deaths) to 2021 (2,006 deaths). To date, over 1,800 nonfatal opioid overdoses have occurred in Arizona in 2022. There have also been more than 370 confirmed deaths in the state this year that have occurred as a result of opioid use.