Sen. Kelly Introduces Bill to Bolster U.S. Efforts to Stop Fentanyl Trafficking at Nation’s Borders

Kelly’s bill would ensure law enforcement has the best technology and resources needed to stop fentanyl from being trafficked into the U.S.

Arizona Senator Mark Kelly introduced the Securing America’s Borders Against Fentanyl Act, legislation to ensure law enforcement has the technology and resources needed to stop fentanyl from being trafficked into the United States through the country’s borders and ports of entry. A companion bill has also been introduced in the House of Representatives. 

Fentanyl is a potent synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control estimates. The Kelly-shaped Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funded upgrades to ports of entry that will allow for modernizations to better detect illicit drugs. As the chairman of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities, Kelly has also worked to tackle the threat cartels and gangs overseas play in the flow of illicit drugs being trafficked at our southern border. 

“Fentanyl is poisoning our communities and killing thousands of innocent Arizonans each year, and most of it passes through our ports of entry. It’s why I’m introducing the Securing America’s Borders Against Fentanyl Act. To keep fentanyl out of our communities, we need to get better at stopping it from coming through our borders and get law enforcement the technology and resources to do so. Our legislation will do just that. I’ll keep working with my colleagues in the Senate to get this over the finish line,” said Kelly, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities.

“While the Biden administration continues to ignore the border crisis, we applaud Senator Kelly’s legislation and commitment to ensure Customs and Border Protection has the best tools to stop the record number of fentanyl being illegally trafficked through the border. We urge Washington to put aside its differences and get this legislation passed and signed into law,” said Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels. 

Kelly’s Securing America’s Borders Against Fentanyl Act would require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to focus on developing new technology to detect illicit fentanyl and collect data on the effectiveness of current technologies while also quadrupling the DHS budget over the next five years for research and development of these technologies.

In the Senate, Kelly has successfully secured additional funding and resources for law enforcement and border communities to help manage the border crisis. Earlier this year, Kelly secured more than $1 billion for border security, improved border technology, Border Patrol hiring and retention, and other border management priorities. Kelly also successfully pushed the Biden administration to close border barrier gaps along the Arizona-Mexico border that pose security challenges for Border Patrol. 

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