Shep Smith's stupid face saying that "Government statistics show much of the heroin actually comes, not over the unguarded border, but through ports of call" pissed me off and prompted me to dig into a little.

The only comprehensive document i found on this was a report commissioned by Clare McKaskill, top ranking democrat on Senate's Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. Document is titled "Combating the Opioid Epidemic - Intercepting Illicit Opioids at Ports of Entry". Attached as PDF.

Within the 17 page document, which draws heavily (if not entirely) from CBP 2013-2017 Opioid Seizure Data, we learn that, "between 2013 and 2017 CBP seized 28,931 pounds of opioids" total, 88%, of which (25,405 pounds) were seized at ports of entry, 75% (19,054 pounds) of which were seized at points of entry along the southern border. Heroin made up about 81% of that, with fentanyl and morphine making up the remaining 19%.

The story I sourced this document from suggests that the report also says that "The majority of those seizures took place in western sectors on the southern border where fencing covers most of the border and where large infrastructure investments have been made to prevent illegal crossings, indicating that opioids are crossing the border through ports of entry and are later being seized by Border Patrol agents at Border Patrol checkpoints", but i have no idea where that quote came from, as it wasn't part of the document I read. Not sure how they came to the conclusion that "opioids are crossing the border through ports of entry and are later being seized by Border Patrol agents at Border Patrol checkpoints" though. Seems like a lofty conclusion based on little more than their desire to make the story fit their narrative.

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/border-patrol-agents-seizure-of-opioids-on-the-rise-mccaskill/article_a6137280-701e-5cac-8803-81d9ac770dd9.html

Anyhow, at face value, CBP stats do suggest that a majority of the heroin they seize is seized at border checkpoints. A better question to ask would be where does most of the heroin that makes it to market cross? Does the fact that they seize more at border checkpoints make Shep Smith's fact checking effort a foregone conclusion? I doubt it.

I suspect that most of what enters the US enters by sea/ports with high-level political assistance, and at various points along the 2,000 miles of unguarded border with the help of crooked agents, cops and etc., Drain the swamp. Build the wall. That oughtta fix it.