Texas Authorities Have Seized Thousands Of Pounds Of Drugs

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Most of the times when you hear about stories from the Texas/Mexico border, the story is about people who are crossing illegally into the United States. You also hear about caravans of people making their way through Mexico with an aim to get into the United States.

But there's another issue with the crisis along the border, and that's smuggling -- of both humans and drugs. According to a report this weekend from KTSM, Texas authorities have stopped over 16,000 pounds of drugs from getting onto the streets of Texas and throughout the United States. Those drugs include cocaine, heroin and fentanyl.

In October, the Lubbock Police Department issued a warning to the local community about an increase in the number of pills being manufactured and sold illegally in the area that contain fentanyl. Sadly, kids and young adults across the country have died after consuming these pills that are designed to look like pain pills. Fentanyl is 50 to 100 times more potent than heroin, according to LPD.

According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas authorities have also seized more than $7 million dollars. Since March, more than 165,000 illegal immigrants have been caught crossing into Texas. Members of the Texas National Guard were able to apprehend 84,000 of those caught.

Things are still dangerous along the border. According to KTSM, Texas DPS announced they had been in more than 1,000 vehicle chases. DPS says the tactics being used by the cartels has been driving the uptick. From KTSM:

The uptick, according to DPS, is because of tactics being used by the cartels,
“One thing about Del Rio that makes it unique is that we’re seeing a lot of smugglers or individuals are coming from larger cities — Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, even out of state. They come down to the Rio Grande Valley or more specifically to Del Rio to become human smugglers because a lot has been advertised on social media by the criminal organizations.

While it's encouraging to hear Texas authorities are seizing so many drugs across the state, one figure that isn't known is how many drugs have been successfully smuggled across the Texas border and into the United States. It's a number that has surely grown since the crisis along the border exploded.