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Trump's "border czar" claims Mexican cartels killed a quarter-million Americans with fentanyl. Here's a fact check.
CBSN
President-elect Donald Trump has said halting fentanyl trafficking across the southern border is a top priority for his administration, vowing to impose 25% tariffs on all imports from Mexico until the flow of "drugs, particularly fentanyl, and illegal immigrants" into the United States is stopped to his liking.
Trump has claimed fentanyl overdoses kill 300,000 people annually, a toll he said is "probably much more," while incoming "border czar" Tom Homan alleged in a Fox News interview this week that Mexican cartels have "killed a quarter of a million Americans with fentanyl."
Synthetic opioids such as fentanyl have become the leading cause of overdose deaths since 2016, devastating communities across the U.S. and causing a major public health challenge, according to the National Institutes of Health. Mexican cartels are the main source of finished fentanyl in the U.S., officials say.
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Washington — A federal judge on Friday declined to block the Trump administration from putting thousands of employees with U.S. Agency for International Development on administrative leave and recalling others from overseas, clearing the way for the president to resume his efforts to overhaul the agency as part of his plans to slash the size of the federal government.
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Michael Sayih and Max Fink share a common goal: to make history together. The South Florida natives are regular racing partners who have competed in 5K, Iron Man and marathon events around the world. Their current goal is to become one of the first Duo Teams — one athlete pushing the other in a wheelchair — to complete six Abbott World Marathon Majors together.