Drugs pour in from Mexico as Border Patrol forced to focus on migrants

Border Patrol highway checkpoints in the southern New Mexico region that normally seize seven figures worth of drugs annually have not seized a dollar in nearly four months after being shuttered in late March, allowing drugs to flood into the country. Meantime, with the added supply, prices for illicit drugs are dropping precipitously.

Those seven checkpoints have sat unattended after Border Patrol closed them to move all personnel to the border to assist with apprehending, processing, and caring for the high number of migrant families arriving.

Seven elected officials and law enforcement officials in Doña Ana and Otero counties told the Washington Examiner in interviews they worry that with no one to seize the millions of dollars of illegal substances normally confiscated, they will more easily be transported north to cities such as Denver and Oklahoma City.