WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department on Monday announced a new strike force to help combat the illegal trade in fentanyl, as the US and China step up efforts to stop the movement of the powerful opioid and drug-making materials into the US.
The Counter-Fentanyl Strike Force will bring together personnel and intelligence from across the Treasury Department – from the sanctions and intelligence community to the IRS Criminal Investigations – to work together more effectively to stop the flow of drugs into the country.
The group's creation marks the start of the Biden administration's plan to redouble efforts to stem the tide of illegal fentanyl after President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in California in November. During the meeting, they announced that China is ordering its chemical companies to limit shipments of the materials used to produce fentanyl to Latin America.
China has also resumed sharing information on suspected human trafficking with an international database.
According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, Mexico and China are the top source countries for fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances smuggled directly into the US. Nearly all the precursor chemicals needed to make fentanyl come from China.
The Treasury Department's task force will, among other things, analyze the financial flows of human trafficking organizations, especially those that rely on cryptocurrency to move money; working with local law enforcement in areas hardest hit by the fentanyl epidemic and using financial institutions' data to track transactions related to drug and human trafficking.
“Fighting the flow of deadly fentanyl into communities across the United States is a top priority for both President Biden and the Treasury Department,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement. She said the new group “will allow us to apply the department's unparalleled expertise in combating financial crime against this deadly epidemic.”
“The Treasury Department will use every tool at its disposal to disrupt drug traffickers' ability to spread this poison in our country.”
The Biden administration has taken a slew of actions against fentanyl traffickers, charging powerful traffickers with drug and money laundering crimes and announcing charges and sanctions against Chinese companies and executives blamed for importing the chemicals used to make the dangerous drug to make.
Yet fentanyl is currently the deadliest drug in the US. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 71,000 people died from overdoses of synthetic opioids such as fentanyl in 2021, up from nearly 58,000 in 2020.
The death toll is more than ten times higher than in 1988, at the height of the crack epidemic.
US lawmakers have proposed a variety of measures to combat the explosive use of fentanyl in the US
Many of the Republican presidential candidates have said they would use military force against Mexico in response to the trafficking of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids.
And the leaders of the Senate Banking and Armed Services committees, along with others, want to force the Biden administration to declare the international trade in fentanyl a national emergency and pass legislation that would hold the Treasury Department to reporting requirements and would allow president to seize sanctioned fentanyl property. to use human traffickers in law enforcement efforts.
Treasury Department officials, including Brian Nelson, the department's assistant secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, have traveled to the southern border this year to work with local authorities to suppress drug trafficking through sanctions.
Nelson will co-chair the strike force along with Jim Lee, head of IRS Criminal Investigations.
Nelson said the strike force will “act quickly and decisively with top specialists from across the department to respond nimbly to the latest threats.”