But that approach also risks Youngkin getting off his skis, getting involved in national issues that could backfire on him. Like his decision in May to deploy Virginia National Guard troops to the US-Mexico border, a decision based heavily on fentanyl abuse in Virginia, but one that almost certainly would not have significant success.
by Youngkin Directive of 31 May it was apparently intended to some extent to give him a record on border issues, despite the fact that his state’s main immigration point was Dulles International Airport. It was based on the “humanitarian crisis of people entering the United States illegally” and the “relative situation of human trafficking” — but largely focused on the more important local issue.
“[I]Illegal drugs are transported into our Commonwealth, leading to the tragic deaths and overdoses of thousands of Virginians,” the directive states. “The influx of fentanyl alone poses a serious threat to the Commonwealth, claiming the lives of five Virginians every day on average.”
Because Texas was looking for support and because of the “unmitigated danger posed by the growing drug supply exacerbating the fentanyl crisis and the impact of criminal activity on the commonwealth,” Youngkin’s directive concluded, he deployed the National Guard.
This mission is over. The local NBC station in Washington, WRC-TV, acquired files of development and found that the Virginia detachment encountered no fentanyl smugglers. Instead, the troopers were primarily concerned with identifying people crossing the border between immigration checkpoints and referring them to the Border Patrol.
This was completely predictable. Since fentanyl began entering the United States in 2020, most of its seizures have been stopped at existing immigration checkpoints rather than people crossing at other points along the border. Analysis by NPR published in August estimated that nearly 90 percent of those seized were confiscated at checkpoints.
There’s an obvious reason: Fentanyl pills are small and easily hidden. It is much easier and faster to pay someone—often a U.S. citizen—to hide the drugs in their car and then pass through a checkpoint than to smuggle a more limited amount on foot.
Smuggling operations ‘are looking for someone we’re not going to pay too much attention to,’ said the director of a port of entry he said NPR. “They target specific people and offer money to pass. I’ve been at it for over 36 years, and it’s been like this forever.”
The people the National Guard met were immigrants just trying to get into the country — and usually looking for the authorities on the US side.
“Today, the majority of immigrants who cross the border between ports of entry are surrendered to Border Patrol agents who intend to seek asylum,” Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, director of policy for the American Immigration Council, told the Washington Post via email. “Over the past decade, as more humanitarian migrants have come to the border and been asked to begin the asylum process, the percentage of migrants seeking to avoid apprehension has dropped significantly.”
This is the central driver of pressure on the federal system. Immigrants understand that asylum applications often give them the legal right to remain in the country for a period of time and that these applications can take years to be processed. However, applying for asylum requires being in the United States, so many immigrants cross the border and then seek out a law enforcement officer to begin the asylum process.
They are not always successful, of course. Reichlin-Melnyk notes that some immigrants are deported soon after their arrival after failing to demonstrate that they have a “credible fear” of returning to their home countries.
“When it happens when an immigrant is turned over to the Border Patrol varies dramatically depending on factors that are largely outside of the immigrant’s control,” he explained, “including their nationality, where they crossed, how many other people crossed with them, and whether they are accompanied by children.”
But then again, that was predictable. It was predictable that the deployment of National Guard troops in border areas between checkpoints would result in many people hoping to gain asylum and very few trying to bring in drugs like fentanyl. WRC-TV’s analysis found that nearly 200 people were referred by National Guard members to law enforcement for possible criminal charges — though it’s “unclear if any were charged with a crime.”
This is the central challenge of border policy. Fentanyl trafficking and the resulting deaths are a serious problem in the United States, but one with no obvious solutions. It is rhetorically easy to present illegal border crossings as a conduit for other illegal activities, such as drug smuggling, but this rhetoric is not sustainable in practice.
Fortunately for Youngkin, it’s a problem focused on the federal level. A problem, that is, for President Biden and whoever takes office on January 20, 2025.