Making America’s Borders Impermeable to Drugs

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The United States Coast Guard is a critical player in keeping drugs and smugglers out of the U.S.

Assistant Coast Guard Commandant for Response Policy Rear Admiral Adam Chamie recently shared several successes in congressional testimony.

“On February 2nd, Coast Guard Cutter Joseph Doyle and a Coast Guard aircraft were patrolling south of the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Cutter stopped and boarded a GOFAST vessel, seizing 2,000 pounds of cocaine and detaining three Venezuelan smugglers. Thanks to the crew of that Cutter and aircraft, they kept over $16 million of drugs off American streets.”

On January 23rd, a Coast Guard Cutter was patrolling far off the coast of Mexico when the crew spotted a GOFAST vessel with three outboard engines. The Coast Guard team ended up seizing six tons of cocaine valued at almost $100 million and they detained ten smugglers from Mexico and Ecuador.

“In all of fiscal year 2024, the Coast Guard interdicted 106 tons of cocaine with a street value of $3.2 billion and detained 213 smugglers,” stated Rear Admiral Chamie.

“This year, our crews have interdicted 108 tons of cocaine, and they have already surpassed last year's total only five months into the fiscal year.”

“The interdiction of cocaine matters because the same cartels who smuggle cocaine produce and smuggle fentanyl,” noted Rear Admiral Chamie. “Cocaine is the cash crop for ... the cartels,” he added. “Their huge profits from cocaine fund other nefarious activities like human smuggling, weapons trafficking, and production of synthetic drugs like fentanyl.”

“Fentanyl is the leading cause of drug-related deaths in our country, but cocaine still kills upwards of 25,000 Americans every year. Although we rarely encounter fentanyl at sea, the Coast Guard is actively finding new ways to get after this problem. We are working alongside federal, state, local, tribal, and international partners to protect the American people and ensure our national security remains strong.”

“The Coast Guard does a lot of things, but we don't do it alone,” stressed Rear Admiral Chamie. “We proudly serve alongside the Department of Defense, our many homeland components like Customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security Investigations, and with the Department of State and Department of Justice.” All to make America safe again.

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