An explosive report published in ProPublica links the official policy of China’s government to the fentanyl epidemic killing Americans, including a record number of Granite Staters. And Granite State GOP opponents of President Joe Biden’s border policy are pointing to it as more proof it is time to make a change in Washington.
ProPublica released a story last weekend by reporters Sebastian Rotella and Kirsten Berg about a Chinese American gangster named Xizhi Li who came to dominate the money laundering market for Mexican drug cartels. The ruthless cartels are making billions sending fentanyl and other drugs to users in the United States and beyond through the porous Southern border.
“At no time in the history of organized crime is there an example where a revenue stream has been taken over like this, and without a shot being fired,” retired DEA agent Thomas Cindric, a veteran of the elite Special Operations Division, told ProPublica. “This has enriched the Mexican cartels beyond their wildest dreams.”
Since 2006, China has exported more than $3.8 trillion through money laundering schemes according to the report. China now leads the world as the primary financial underwriter for the cartels.
According to ProPublica, the Chinese government certainly knows that its citizens around the globe are involved in money laundering for the cartels and it approves.
With a major world power now suspected of using America’s unsecured southern border to attack the United States, Republicans like retired Gen. Don Bolduc are laying the blame at the feed of Biden and his Democratic allies, including his opponent Sen. Maggie Hassan.
“It’s no secret the drug crisis is plaguing New Hampshire communities and families, exacerbated by the open-border policies supported by Sen. Hassan,” Bolduc’s spokesperson Kate Constantini told NHJournal. “Drugs are pouring in and killing Granite Staters while Sen. Hassan is hiding in her safe and cushy D.C. office. Parents across the country now have to worry about telling their own children they can’t eat Halloween candy because Democrats like Sen. Hassan continue to stay soft on crime and drugs.
“We’ll gladly compare our vision for a secure border and strong communities over Sen. Hassan’s pathetic record any day.”
The issue is more problematic for Hassan because she sits on the powerful Homeland Security Committee which has direct oversight of border security policy.
Former senior FBI official Frank Montoya, Jr. told ProPublica China supports the money laundering business which props up the cartels as part of a policy to further weaken the United States.
“We suspected a Chinese ideological and strategic motivation behind the drug and money activity,” Montoya told ProPublica.
He offered this rationale to ProPublica for the Communist government’s policy.
“To fan the flames of hate and division. The Chinese have seen the advantages of the drug trade. If fentanyl helps them and hurts this country, why not?”
The Hassan campaign did not respond to a request for comment. But in the first U.S. Senate debate of the general election Tuesday, Hassan insisted she supports “a secure, orderly and humane border,” and that she supports additional “physical barriers,” aka “a wall.”
But as a senator, Hassan repeatedly voted against funding the border wall former President Donald Trump tried to build while he was in office. And she opposes deporting illegal immigrants who successfully make their way into the nation, also known as “interior enforcement.”
Karoline Leavitt, in an apparent neck-and-neck race with incumbent Democrat Rep. Chris Pappas, also blames her opponent for the border problem.
“With each passing day, Chinese fentanyl continues to be smuggled across our wide-open southern border. Our families and communities are being poisoned by this dangerous drug, and we cannot afford another weak leader in D.C. who will act as if this problem isn’t occurring,” Leavitt said. “We need a representative who will work with law enforcement to secure our communities and stop this dangerous drug from pouring into our state.”
Pappas also did not respond to a request for comment.
Both Pappas and Hassan heard testimony earlier this year from national security officials who testified that Chinese triads are supplying Mexican cartels with the chemicals needed to make fentanyl. Those drugs are making their way into New Hampshire with deadly consequences.
New Hampshire’s two largest cities, Manchester and Nashua, are on target for record opioid overdose deaths this year, thanks to the fentanyl flooding the streets. According to American Medical Response, a large ambulance company that services New Hampshire, opioid deaths continue to rise.
Data for August, the most recent set available, show Nashua has seen 32 suspected opioid-related deaths, topping last year’s 30 opioid deaths.
“Nashua remains on pace to have the highest number of suspected deaths from opioids in one year since the opioid epidemic began in 2015,” AMR states in its monthly report.
Manchester is on pace to have the highest number of suspected opioid-related deaths in a year since 2017, with more than 71 opioid deaths projected for the year. As of the end of August, the Queen City has 45 suspected opioid overdose deaths on record.
