Drug overdose deaths declined 20% in 2025 amid increased border crackdown
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Drug overdose deaths in the United States fell more than 20% last year, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, amid President Donald Trump’s crackdown on the country’s porous borders.
“The decline begins at the end of the Biden administration, but the question is, was that in anticipation of a tough-on-crime president?” said Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD sergeant and assistant professor of criminal justice at Penn State Lehigh Valley.
According to data examining deaths through August 2025, they were on the rise but largely flat as Trump entered his first term, then rose and plateaued when President Joe Biden took office.
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Migrants walk along a road minutes after crossing the Rio Grande river from Mexico into the United States at the U.S.-Mexico border in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (Washington Post via Jabin Botsford/Getty Images)
During CDC He did not offer a reason for the decline, but it coincides with stronger border enforcement.
“Securing the borders has a lot to do with the decline,” Giacalone told Fox News Digital. “Drug dealers and their mules have less chance of bringing drugs into the country.”
Data from the CDC shows overdose deaths in the US between January 2015 and August 2025. (HCM)
Amid harsh criticism, the Biden administration increased border controls toward the end of his term, and the decline accelerated when Trump returned to office.
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Groups of immigrants from different nationalities cross the Rio Grande to surrender to American authorities on February 19, 2024. (Christian Torres/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Other factors may include the increased availability of opioid overdose antidotes such as Narcan, but Giacalone said he believes nothing makes a bigger impact than “closing the floodgates at the border.”
“The jury is still out on the effectiveness of blowing up drug boats, but I can imagine it is also a deterrent,” he added. “Deterrence is important in criminal justice policy.”
The CDC stated that the data is provisional because some causes of death are still under investigation.
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Customs and Border Protection officers in Arizona seized 65 pounds of methamphetamine and 5 pounds of fentanyl pills during a Jan. 14 raid, according to authorities. (CBP)
Louisiana, Florida, Virginia, New York, Vermont, Wyoming and the District of Columbia saw declines of more than 30%.
Looking regionally, only five states did not see a decline in overdose deaths.
North Dakota remained flat. Kansas and Hawaii saw less than 2% increases in deaths. New Mexico was up about 3.5%.
President Donald Trump has taken a number of actions to stem the flow of fentanyl in the United States since his return to the Oval Office in January 2025. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Only Arizona saw a significant increase; Fatal overdoses increased by 17.75% between August 2024 and 2025.
The increase comes after authorities said fentanyl overdoses were killing three people a day in Maricopa County in 2023.
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Authorities in the Grand Canyon State have cracked down on fentanyl dealers in an effort to counter the trend there.
Maricopa prosecutors have identified fentanyl awareness as one of their top initiatives and are aggressively using the new state law to go after dealers whose drugs are killing people.
