Due to negligent enforcement, the American mail system is becoming a haven for drug trafficking.
While Congress overwhelmingly enacted legislation in 2018 to curtail opioids, fentanyl, and other illegal contraband from entering the United States via the international postal system, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has dropped the ball on enforcement. This has public health and national security ramifications that Congress should investigate and fix.
In a thoroughly documented, scathing September 25 report from the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General (DHS OIG), CBP is admonished for not meeting the requirements of the Synthetics Trafficking and Overdose Prevention Act of 2018 (STOP Act).
The STOP Act’s hallmark requirement was simple and reasonable: to require electronic tracking on all postal packages entering the United States from foreign posts. When this is done, suspicious packages are much more likely to be identified and seized before delivery.