US citizens make up around 80 to 89 percent of everyone convicted of federal fentanyl trafficking, and the drug comes through legal ports of entry, not between them.

The United States Sentencing Commission counts every person convicted in federal court and records their citizenship. In fiscal year 2022, US citizens were 89 percent of all convicted fentanyl traffickers — twelve times the number of undocumented immigrants convicted of the same offense. In FY2024 citizens were still more than 80 percent nationally.

The border-district numbers are the ones that matter most, because that is where the story is supposed to be happening. In Southwest border districts, 77 percent of fentanyl trafficking convictions were US citizens, and about 72 percent of drug trafficking convictions overall.

The reason is logistical, not ideological. Fentanyl is enormously potent by weight, so it moves in small volumes through the fastest, least-inspected channel available — a vehicle with a US plate driven by someone authorized to cross at a legal port of entry. Traffickers recruit people who can cross legally and who have no criminal record. Someone walking through the desert is the worst possible courier.

Meanwhile 39 percent of Americans — and 60 percent of Republicans — believe most fentanyl is carried in by migrants crossing illegally. The belief is nearly the inverse of the federal government's own conviction data.