NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — It's one of the most persistent myths surrounding Tennessee's fentanyl crisis — a myth that, experts worry, keeps us from finding real solutions.
On Tennessee's Capitol Hill, we've been told that the solution lies in stopping illegal immigration.
But is that the truth?
While no one disputes that we have a crisis at the Southern border nor that we have a fentanyl crisis, the evidence strongly suggests that the connection between the two is not nearly as clear as some politicians would like for you to believe.
"Unfortunately policy is just divorced from this reality and they are just so focused on, well, if we would just seal the border, the problem will go away. Unfortunately, it's not that simple," said David Bier, director of immigration studies for the Cato Institute.
The supposed link between the immigration and fentanyl issues has become a talking point — and a photo op — for Republican politicians like Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty.
Back in 2022, Tennessee's junior senator posted a video showing him leading a delegation of Tennessee sheriffs to the Southern border and talking about the dangers of fentanyl linked to illegal immigration.
Over the last 14 months, mayors and sheriffs in Tennessee have seen an epidemic of drug overdoses and deaths in their counties. Why? Biden’s completely-collapsed border.
— Senator Bill Hagerty (@SenatorHagerty) April 7, 2022
We went to see it for ourselves ⬇ pic.twitter.com/XlZ2ZrizXe
It was a claim repeated last month on the floor of the Tennessee House as Rep. Rusty Grills, R-Newbern, pushed legislation that "requires that law enforcement officers in the state communicate with the Department of Homeland Security when they encounter a person in the country illegally."
Grills told his colleagues, "Just this past weekend, the West Tennessee Drug Task Force confiscated 85 pounds of fentanyl on I-40 from an illegal alien."
So we checked on that 85-pound seizure.
Authorities say the 42-year-old man they busted is actually a U.S. citizen. His 25-year-old traveling companion may be in the country illegally, although they've not been able to confirm her immigration status.
Still, that did not stop the bill's proponents from making claims that "human beings are forced to swim by their owners, the cartels, to bring drugs into this nation."
NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked Cato's David Bier, "Tell me about all these illegal immigrants who are swimming across the Rio Grande with fentanyl."
"Well, there aren't many immigrants crossing the Rio Grande with fentanyl. It's basically unheard of," the director of immigration studies answered.
The Cato Insitute is a libertarian think tank often cited by conservatives.
Bier's research has shown that almost 90 percent of convicted fentanyl traffickers are U.S. citizens.
More than 90% of fentanyl seizures occur at legal crossing points or vehicle checkpoints.
That's because hard drugs at ports of entry are 97% less likely to be stopped than people crossing illegally between such ports.
"It's actually far easier to conceal fentanyl within the confines of a vehicle or in legal luggage than it is to conceal a human being walking across the border illegally," he explained.
And the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which attempts to trace the origin of fentanyl it seizes, has confirmed those trends in congressional testimony.
"2020 was a nice little experiment with what happens when you do try to literally close the border," Bier said.
His research shows that fentanyl smuggling actually increased after the Trump administration shut down the border in 2020. That's because smugglers needed a more potent drug than heroin, so they could get away from fewer and smaller shipments.
"For so much of the country there's this belief that we have a silver bullet and all that we have to do is shut the borders and this problem goes away. In reality, we tried it — and it made the problem much worse."
During the debate on the floor of the Tennessee Rep. Jason Zachary, R-Knoxville, also blamed the growing number of fentanyl deaths on the Biden administration.
"According to the NIH, in the last five years, fentanyl overdose deaths have doubled. It's now the number one killer for those 18-42," Zachary said. "So open borders has so many consequences for the people of our country."
Again, we checked the most recent data from the National Institutes of Health.
It shows fentanyl deaths were quite low until 2015, shooting up dramatically during the Trump administration, showing its largest spikes in 2020 and 2021 — a trend rarely acknowledged by those who wish to link fentanyl deaths to the nation's border crisis.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked Bier, "So why do you think this myth is prevalent?"
"It's really difficult for people to imagine coming through an area where they know that there's government inspection with stuff that's illegal," he responded. "They just can't put themselves in the position of someone who's willing to take that type of risk."
Bier worries that such fentanyl myths lead politicians to look in the wrong places for solutions.
SPECIAL SECTION: Revealed
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