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California dad who lost daughter to fentanyl poisoning sends message to Biden: 'Mr. President, where are you?’
By Joshua Nelson
Published December 23, 2021
A California man whose 19-year-old daughter was killed by fentanyl-laced opioids called out President Biden Friday for not doing enough to combat drugs coming across the U.S.-Mexico border.
"My daughter didn’t die from an overdose. She was poisoned. She suffocated to death, the casualty of a war not being fought. This is a weapon of mass destruction," Matt Capelouto told "America’s Newsroom" host Julie Banderas.
Capelouto said his daughter was just one victim of fentanyl being sourced from China and distributed by Mexican drug cartels, which he called "the deadliest terrorist organization in existence today."
"This is no longer an addiction or drug issue," Capelouto said.
Federal seizures of fentanyl and meth are soaring in Mexico as cartels have begun churning out increased quantities of the deadly synthetic drugs while also importing it from China.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is seeing a record number of seizures of fentanyl. (DEA)
According to seizure figures issued Monday by Mexico’s Defense Department, seizures of the synthetic opioid fentanyl soared 525% in the first three years of the current administration, which took office Dec. 1, 2018, compared to the previous three years. Law enforcement seized 1,232 pounds (559 kilograms) of fentanyl in 2016-2018 and 7,710 pounds (3,497 kilograms) in 2019-2021.
The defense secretary, Gen. Luis Cresencio Sandoval, acknowledged there has been a huge shift by Mexican cartels away from naturally grown drugs like opium and marijuana, where seizures and crop eradication have fallen.
Capelouto said the amount of fentanyl pouring into the U.S. is a national security threat. He added that the U.S. won’t get ahead of the issue unless "we cut off the dragon’s head."
"The terrorist organization which is responsible for more American deaths than any other is operating unabated just miles south of our borders. To my knowledge, the number one duty of our federal government is to protect its citizens from all enemies foreign and domestic," he said.
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Capelouto's daughter Alexandra died two years ago when she was sold a counterfeit oxycodone pill laced with fentanyl.
"My question is, Mr. President, where are you?"
The man who sold the pills was arrested on federal drug charges carrying a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. Capelouto said his daughter turned to black-market prescription drugs to deal with depression and anxiety.
Fox News' Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/father-daughter-fentanyl-death-biden-drug-cartels