Trump touts securing southern border as fentanyl deaths plummet
President Donald Trump highlights a massive drop in fentanyl deaths and illegal drugs entering the country by sea in an exclusive interview with Trace Gallagher. Trump claims border security measures have reduced maritime drug smuggling by 97 percent, saving thousands of lives. The president questions why mainstream media outlets are not covering this positive development at the southern border.
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EXCLUSIVE: Fentanyl-linked deaths plunged 22% in a single year as the Trump White House credits its border crackdown, campaign against drug cartels and arrests of convicted fentanyl traffickers for helping drive down the deadly toll.
Synthetic opioid deaths, which include fentanyl, fell from 48,913 in 2024 to 38,084 in 2025, according to CDC figures cited by the White House — a decline of more than 10,000 deaths. Total drug overdose deaths fell 14% during the same period, from 81,313 to 69,973.
The Trump administration provided the figures to Fox News Digital in honor of National Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day on Friday, pointing to the decline as evidence its border and counter-narcotics policies are disrupting the flow of fentanyl into American communities.
PRESIDENT TRUMP’S DRUG CONTROL STRATEGY SETS THE PATH TO END THE DRUG CRISIS FOR GOOD
Ten foreign nationals arrested by ICE this year had previous fentanyl-related convictions, according to DHS. (Department of Homeland Security / Getty Images)
“President [Donald] Trump targeted cartels who were profiting off the death of Americans, secured our border to stop Fentanyl and other illicit drugs from flowing into our communities, and jumpstarted ICE to arrest illegal alien fentanyl traffickers,” White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis told Fox News Digital.
“These policies delivered a 22% decline in opioid deaths in a single year. Thanks to President Trump, America is finally winning the fight against fentanyl,” she added.
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President Donald Trump speaks during a bill signing ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., July 16. Trump signed legislation that strengthens criminal penalties for fentanyl, hailing it as a historic step toward justice in his latest effort to address the public health crisis spurred by the deadly drug. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The White House also pointed to a 45% decline in nationwide fentanyl seizures in fiscal year 2025 compared with the previous year. The administration characterized the drop as evidence that disruption farther up the supply chain is reducing the amount of the drug reaching the U.S. border.
DEA testing cited by the administration also found 29% of seized fentanyl pills contained a potentially lethal dose, down from 76% two years earlier. The White House attributed the declining potency to pressure on trafficking networks.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SAYS FEDERAL AUTHORITIES HAVE ARRESTED MORE THAN 10,000 SUSPECTED GANG MEMBERS
ICE arrested three foreign nationals who DHS says had prior fentanyl-related convictions, including cases involving fentanyl trafficking, importation and conspiracy to distribute the deadly synthetic opioid. (Department of Homeland Security / Getty Images)
The administration also shared the cases of 11 foreign nationals arrested by ICE this year who the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says had previous fentanyl-related convictions.
The administration highlighted the February ICE arrest of Julio Cesar Pimentel-German, a Dominican Republic national whom DHS says had previously been convicted in Massachusetts of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, trafficking fentanyl and a firearms offense.
ICE also arrested Ader Aldair Ramirez-Quiroz, a Honduran national DHS says was convicted of importing fentanyl in San Diego, and Yancarlos Marte-Morel, a Dominican Republic national convicted in federal court in Massachusetts of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl, according to DHS.
The arrests are part of what the administration says is a broader effort to remove convicted fentanyl traffickers from American communities while federal agencies target the drug trade at multiple levels.
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Terrance Cole, administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, holds a folder reading “Fentanyl free America” during a news conference outside the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, N.Y., July 20. (AFP via Getty Images)
Trump has also pursued the cartels through terrorist designations, financial sanctions and other federal enforcement tools.
The president signed the HALT Fentanyl Act into law in July 2025, permanently placing fentanyl-related substances under Schedule I and giving federal prosecutors a permanent framework for targeting fentanyl analogs. Trump later designated illicit fentanyl and key precursor chemicals as weapons of mass destruction.
FEDS SEIZE MOUNTAIN OF FENTANYL FROM ‘OPEN-AIR DRUG MARKET’ IN MASSIVE CRACKDOWN TARGETING GANG CREWS
President Donald Trump classifies fentanyl as a “weapon of mass destruction” during a Mexican Border Defense medal presentation in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., Dec. 15, 2025. (Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images, File)
The White House also pointed to Justice Department prosecutions involving nearly 8,000 defendants in fentanyl cases as evidence of the scope of the federal crackdown.
The decline comes after fentanyl helped fuel an overdose epidemic that killed tens of thousands of Americans annually and devastated communities across the country.
The administration says the latest figures show that trend moving sharply in the opposite direction.
