NOGALES, Ariz. (KGUN — More than half of the fentanyl seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection nationwide last fiscal year came through Nogales ports of entry, according to Nogales Port Director Michael Humphries.
After news reports this spring, Humphries says Nogales is fully equipped and not waiting on any additional technology sitting in warehouses. But stopping deadly drugs is still a steep challenge for officers at the border.
“We don’t open a trunk and there’s packages,” Humphries explained. “We’re talking deep, deep concealment [of drugs]. And [officers are] finding it.”
CBP officers found more than 50 million fentanyl pills at Nogales ports between October 2022 and September 2023 (Fiscal Year 2023), more than any other port of entry in the country. And just one pill can kill.
Recent busts have come from looking inside a spare tire, under a pickup truck bed and even inside doors and engine compartments.
CBP Officers at the Nogales POE seized:
— Port Director Michael W. Humphries (@CBPPortDirNOG) August 5, 2024
7/24:
Approx 576,450 fentanyl pills and 34 lbs meth in an altered bed compartment of a truck
7/25:
Approx 331,650 fentanyl pills in spare tire
72.95 lbs meth throughout a vehicle
299 lbs meth in a hollow beam of a grain hopper rail car pic.twitter.com/8isMp99x81
Humphries says fentanyl seizures are actually trending slightly down this year; CBP has found 31 million pills at Nogales with about two months to go in this fiscal year.
But meth seizures have roughly doubled and cocaine seizures are roughly four times higher in that time, according to Humphries.
“I wanna have one, two, three, four, maybe five looks at every vehicle coming through,” he said.
The layered approach begins at an initial inspection area, which has everything from license plate readers to facial recognition technology. Drivers then have an in-person interview with an officer at a booth.
They are then directed to secondary inspection for a closer look from officers or a K9.
About 10 percent of cars are sent through this drive-thru x-ray machine, known as a Z-Portal.
The goal is to add more of these scanners as the first phase of inspection for cars coming in, but Humphries says the ports in Nogales first need to be overhauled to add more room on the U.S. side of the border to allow for construction, a project likely years away.
Meanwhile, CBP will continue to rely on its layered approach to slow the flow of deadly drugs and protect the stream of legal trade.
“Ninety-eight, 99 percent of the people coming through here are honest, hard-working people just looking to come over here to visit, spend money, buy gas,” Humphries explained. “That helps the economy on the U.S. side. But at the same time, we do gotta make sure nothing bad’s getting through.”
Every single pill officers find at the port, means more lives saved across the country.