Cato Institute sets Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene straight on who's bringing fentanyl across the border

Don’t fret: The Biden administration is on top of the fentanyl crisis. Asked about “rainbow” fentanyl being found in 18 states, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that the White House was observing “Overdose Awareness Day.”

Maybe securing the border isn’t the fix. A reporter tried to set Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene straight by telling her that most fentanyl coming across the border from Mexico is carried by U.S. citizens, not immigrants. When challenged, the reporter said his source was the Cato Institute.

Reporter: "Most fentanyl comes across the border from people who are US citizens, not immigrants."

MTG: "What's your proof? Because that's not what we've been shown by border patrol."

Reporter: "From the CATO Institute"

MTG: "We're not taking the CATO Institute seriously." pic.twitter.com/tcSc2mFE2P

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) November 17, 2022

The Cato Institute got word that they weren’t being taken seriously and replied:

No, @RepMTG, we are not the Border Patrol, but we do have the data

90% of fentanyl from Mexico was seized at legal entry points or interior checkpoints, not illegal crossing routes

~0.02% of those arrested by Border Patrol possessed any fentanyl at allhttps://t.co/OAgl6DcHtV https://t.co/8XqIY5TDT8

— Cato Institute (@CatoInstitute) November 17, 2022

86.3% of fentanyl trafficking convictions were of U.S. citizens, not illegal immigrants.

If it were easier to transport fentanyl by crossing illegally, U.S. citizens wouldn’t be hired for smuggling jobshttps://t.co/OAgl6DcHtV

— Cato Institute (@CatoInstitute) November 17, 2022

Fentanyl, the synthetic opioid responsible for 88 percent of opioid overdose deaths in the United States, is showing up in campaign ads across the country. The message is simple: Fentanyl would disappear if illegal immigration disappeared.

This is wrong. If anything, border crackdowns have exacerbated the crisis.

Much of this narrative places blame on President Biden for less restrictive immigration policies, which have supposedly caused the highly potent fentanyl to “pour across our border.” But this misunderstands the obvious reality about the drug: Because it is so potent, a large supply can be easily concealed. That makes it easy to enter the country through legal border crossings.

But what about all of the fentanyl smugglers who aren’t caught? We obviously don’t have the numbers there.

https://twitter.com/MelissaTweets/status/1593368779018317825

Cope and seethe.

You've already lost the plot because you're only using the data of how much fentanyl gets caught at the border to try and disprove her point. https://t.co/F15UnoeOsf

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) November 17, 2022

There were 64,000 GETAWAYS in the month of October alone. You have no idea what they had in their “luggage” just like Mayorkas has no idea.

— SeldenGADawgs (@SeldenGADawgs) November 17, 2022

Have you guys considered the stuff that doesn’t get caught?

— Jason (@jason913tn) November 17, 2022

cope. you guys are the worst

— Logan Hall (@loganclarkhall) November 17, 2022

Jeebus, talk about massaging stats.

I can't believe what's happened to Cato.

— Factotum (@emery__bored) November 17, 2022

Weird… I didn’t know only US citizens show up at legal entry points and that there are no illegals near interior checkpoints 🤔

— The Gozerian (@G_Gozerian1) November 17, 2022

https://twitter.com/vjeannek/status/1593370064547450884

Now show us a percentage based on fentanyl that gets ACROSS the border, not what gets caught AT the boarder.

— WrathOfTheShire (@WrathOfTheShire) November 17, 2022

Take the L. You got rekt

— Bobby D. (@RealSaltySlim) November 17, 2022

The cartels run the shell game with illegal crossings overwhelming USBP in areas while smugglers cross in other sectors.

That’s proven.

What are u telling us they are smuggling? Sombreros?

— Roadwarrior (@John73571561) November 17, 2022

The best time to delete this is…?

— Sam Bellamy (@jce0912) November 17, 2022

By now I trust you realize it's been pointed out to you by many that you are not refuting her point. It makes sense that 90% of Fentanyl seized at legal checkpoints and official border crossings will be by people coming into the country legally (citizens, mostly).

— Kyle Lamb (@kylamb8) November 17, 2022

So if local PD seizes it in Texas for example, there is no chance that the CBP missed it coming over a large and largely unsecured border. Must have just materialized here…

— Amerigo the Red™️ 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@AmerigoFreedo) November 17, 2022

So they’re not catching any of the people smuggling it in through illegal crossing routes? Great.

— GayLumberjack (@gay_lumberjack) November 17, 2022

At the risk of stating a point that seems obvious, the fact that the Biden admin was going for an open border policy encouraged many more illegals to come.

That obviously strains CBP resources.

This makes it harder to stop smuggling regardless of who's doing it, no?

— Latin X (@RealLatinX) November 17, 2022

https://twitter.com/c0rp0rate_shill/status/1593369772992905217

Wow that’s so weird that we don’t have the data for the fentanyl that wasn’t seized

— Uncut Lifter✝️🇺🇸🏋🏼 (@UncutLifter) November 17, 2022

90% of the fentanyl that was seized was at the Mexico border with the United States. It absolutely does not represent 90% of that drug being smuggled into the country from that source. Your claim is beyond deceptive.

— Up The Republicans (@UpTheRep) November 17, 2022

Now give us the stats on how much fentanyl was trafficked across the border (and by who) that WASN'T stopped. You can't, because no one knows.

We have record seizures and record overdose deaths.

OBVIOUSLY Border Patrol is only catching a fraction of what is coming through.

— Samuel Culper 722 (@politiwars) November 17, 2022

Embarrassingly stupid.

— Dr. Diet Publicola (@DietPublicola) November 17, 2022

How can you possibly know that 90 percent of fentanyl was seized at legal entry points when you don’t know how much got through that wasn’t seized? Ninety percent of what? Of what we know was seized.

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Related:

‘Shocker!’ Here’s why 2 fentanyl traffickers arrested with 150,000 pills have disappeared in Calif. https://t.co/kuIoIrXrUI

— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) July 22, 2022