“Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat the United States has ever faced, and the Justice Department is committed to breaking apart every link in the global fentanyl supply chain,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland in a July 22 press release.
To “break apart every link,” Homeland and the DoJ should look no further than closing the de minimis provision. Very few countries have such a high threshold for duty free shipments into the U.S. Customs has called it our “China free trade agreement” and CPA’s trade counsel has referred to it as a haven for lawlessness.
A recent Reuters investigation said, “the sheer volume of merchandise arriving daily in America on flights from China makes it easy to sneak in small boxes of chemicals.” A senior agency official said the U.S. need to “strengthen laws and regulations on small packages” entering the country, and for improving intelligence and cooperation with China to stop fentanyl chemicals before they arrive on U.S. shores. “We can’t seize our way out of the fentanyl threat,” she said.
In May, members of the Coalition to Close the De Minimis Loophole, representing diverse American voices and millions of people committed to fix the de minimis crisis—from the families of victims of fentanyl fatalities, law enforcement, drug prevention organizations and nonprofit and nonpartisan organizations, including labor unions, manufacturers, business associations and consumer safety advocacy organizations—sent a letter to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) and Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-MA) providing information demonstrating the major role de minimis exemptions play in facilitating illicit fentanyl trafficking, poisonings and deaths.
“The volume of de minimis packages has exploded; overwhelming what already was minimal government inspection. Those who seek to smuggle contraband across borders without detection have become increasingly interested in using de minimis to enter the United States for their deadly wares. We are compelled to underscore that today de minimis serves as a major artery for the flow of fentanyl and other illicit and harmful products into our country,” the letter stated. “Given the fentanyl epidemic’s devastating impact on families and communities, it is imperative that the Committee accurately and fully diagnose the de minimis loophole’s relationship to the flood of fentanyl entering our country.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seizes thousands of pounds of fentanyl every year, with each year outpacing the prior year. In fiscal year 2023, CBP seized 27,023 pounds of fentanyl, nearly doubling fiscal year 2022’s 14,700 pounds of fentanyl. That’s what it catches. No one really knows what goes through. And most of that is caught at official border crossings, where CBP inspectors are located. China Post and other mail couriers delivering packages to private houses are not faced with the same scrutiny.
Fang may have been part of a larger criminal organization that attracted Homeland. It is hard to know how many are importing narcotics as individuals, or as much smaller groups not connected to Mexico’s drug trade.
Last year, CBP launched its Strategy to Combat Fentanyl and Other Synthetic Drugs, to which this Homeland Securities Investigation was a part.
Fentanyl By Mail: DOJ Captures Chinese National Importing 2,000 Kilos of Fentanyl Chemicals
The Department of Justice indicted a Chinese national who was living in the United States and importing thousands of kilograms of precursor chemicals used in making the addictive, powerful synthetic opioid known as fentanyl.
The now unsealed charges say that 48-year-old Minsu Fang and his associates imported over 2,000 kilograms of fentanyl precursor chemicals from China into the United States and on to Mexico in approximately 100 separate shipments between August and October 2023. Fang used the de minimis loophole, where packages priced under $800 are allowed into the U.S. without paying duties, taxes, fees, or undergoing rigorous inspection. There is also limited data currently required of such shipments. The DoJ said he mixed the chemicals into small boxes containing other, non-narcotic related items.
Although most of the fentanyl coming into the U.S. comes in through the Mexican border, it is much easier for Customs agents to capture it on jittery tourists and drug dealers than it is to capture it in a box full of toys, clothes, or hidden inside $600 laptops that all qualify for de minimis entry.
Earlier this month, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said de minimis was an open door to drugs-by-mail.
De minimis entry “is stunning from a point of view of narcotics, controlled substances and ghost guns and all sorts of contraband,” he said. “The de minimis exception is built on a false premise that low value means low risk. That is one area where we hope to make some advances.”
“Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat the United States has ever faced, and the Justice Department is committed to breaking apart every link in the global fentanyl supply chain,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland in a July 22 press release.
To “break apart every link,” Homeland and the DoJ should look no further than closing the de minimis provision. Very few countries have such a high threshold for duty free shipments into the U.S. Customs has called it our “China free trade agreement” and CPA’s trade counsel has referred to it as a haven for lawlessness.
A recent Reuters investigation said, “the sheer volume of merchandise arriving daily in America on flights from China makes it easy to sneak in small boxes of chemicals.” A senior agency official said the U.S. need to “strengthen laws and regulations on small packages” entering the country, and for improving intelligence and cooperation with China to stop fentanyl chemicals before they arrive on U.S. shores. “We can’t seize our way out of the fentanyl threat,” she said.
In May, members of the Coalition to Close the De Minimis Loophole, representing diverse American voices and millions of people committed to fix the de minimis crisis—from the families of victims of fentanyl fatalities, law enforcement, drug prevention organizations and nonprofit and nonpartisan organizations, including labor unions, manufacturers, business associations and consumer safety advocacy organizations—sent a letter to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) and Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-MA) providing information demonstrating the major role de minimis exemptions play in facilitating illicit fentanyl trafficking, poisonings and deaths.
“The volume of de minimis packages has exploded; overwhelming what already was minimal government inspection. Those who seek to smuggle contraband across borders without detection have become increasingly interested in using de minimis to enter the United States for their deadly wares. We are compelled to underscore that today de minimis serves as a major artery for the flow of fentanyl and other illicit and harmful products into our country,” the letter stated. “Given the fentanyl epidemic’s devastating impact on families and communities, it is imperative that the Committee accurately and fully diagnose the de minimis loophole’s relationship to the flood of fentanyl entering our country.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seizes thousands of pounds of fentanyl every year, with each year outpacing the prior year. In fiscal year 2023, CBP seized 27,023 pounds of fentanyl, nearly doubling fiscal year 2022’s 14,700 pounds of fentanyl. That’s what it catches. No one really knows what goes through. And most of that is caught at official border crossings, where CBP inspectors are located. China Post and other mail couriers delivering packages to private houses are not faced with the same scrutiny.
Fang may have been part of a larger criminal organization that attracted Homeland. It is hard to know how many are importing narcotics as individuals, or as much smaller groups not connected to Mexico’s drug trade.
Last year, CBP launched its Strategy to Combat Fentanyl and Other Synthetic Drugs, to which this Homeland Securities Investigation was a part.
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