
When politicians and pundits on the right call for the U.S.-Mexico border to be secured, they often point to rising fentanyl overdose deaths among Americans as justification.
"The cartels are exploiting President Biden's open borders," charged Sen. Ted Cruz (R–Texas), sharing an article about fentanyl at the southern border. "Open borders…are slowly but surely poisoning our country," said former Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R–Ga.) of parents who "now must worry" about Halloween candy laced with fentanyl. "There have been over 100k fentanyl deaths" since Joe Biden became president, tweeted the conservative Heritage Foundation. "OPEN BORDERS ARE INHUMANE."