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Exclusive: Federal drug prosecutions fall to lowest level in decades as Trump shifts focus to deportations
Reuters.com ^ | September 29, 20255:11 AM CDT | Brad Heath

Posted on 09/29/2025 1:07:18 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum

Summary

WASHINGTON, Sept 29 (Reuters) - The number of people charged with breaking federal drug laws dropped to the lowest level in decades this year after the Trump administration ordered enforcement agencies to focus on deporting immigrants, a Reuters review of nearly 2 million federal court records found.

So far this year, about 10% fewer people have been prosecuted for drug violations compared to the same period of 2024, court records show, a drop of about 1,200 cases and the slowest rate since at least the late 1990s. The pullback was more dramatic for the types of conspiracy and money-laundering cases often used to pursue higher-level traffickers. The number of people charged with money-laundering dropped by 24%, according to Reuters' analysis.

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Shortly after taking office in January, U.S. President Donald Trump launched the broadest overhaul of U.S. law enforcement since the attacks of September 11, 2001. He ordered thousands of federal agents to focus on fending off what he described as an “invasion” of illegal immigration.

The shift has produced a coast-to-coast slowdown in the types of investigations and prosecutions that the government had long viewed as central to taking on criminal networks, including the drug cartels whose products killed more than 80,000 people last year, as agents focused instead on quick-hit immigration raids, interviews and court documents show.

“We’re seeing a reduced amount of time on long-term investigations so agents can go out in their raid gear and be seen supporting immigration raids,” said a...

(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government
KEYWORDS: aliens; borders; crime; nationalsecurity; smuggling

1 posted on 09/29/2025 1:07:18 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Killing two birds with one stone.


2 posted on 09/29/2025 1:09:16 PM PDT by Flaming Conservative ((Pray without ceasing)like he had it with him.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

If you secure the borders so they can’t get in, maybe you don’t need to prosecute as many. The same thing applies when you blow them up in the Caribbean.


3 posted on 09/29/2025 1:12:44 PM PDT by EastTexasTraveler
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

We also have a lot less drugs entering into the USA.


4 posted on 09/29/2025 1:13:15 PM PDT by jacknhoo (Luke 12:51; Think ye, that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, no; but separation.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Funny how Reuters can’t see the connection... the left is that stupid.


5 posted on 09/29/2025 1:14:26 PM PDT by maddog55 (The only thing systemic in America is the left's hatred of it!)
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To: maddog55

Yup...and at the same time the lefties at the AP don’t want prosecutions for drug dealers...


6 posted on 09/29/2025 1:16:30 PM PDT by God luvs America
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To: EastTexasTraveler

“If you secure the borders so they can’t get in, maybe you don’t need to prosecute as many. “
Exactly. Reuters has a meeting each day where they ask each other, “What irrelevant statistic can we take out of context to make Trump look bad today?” 1) 2025 is far from over yet 2) a 10 percent drop doesn’t sound like it could be “the lowest in decades” 3) most drug crimes are at the state and local level 4) how can you spin lower crime as a bad thing?? Sheesh.


7 posted on 09/29/2025 1:17:50 PM PDT by brookwood (If you don't support abortion rights for trans women you are a Nazi. )
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
If you're kicking all the people who are involved in drug importation... Namely illegal immigrants... Then drug importation itself will also naturally fall. D'oh!!!


8 posted on 09/29/2025 1:22:55 PM PDT by jerod (Nazis were essentially Socialist in Hugo Boss uniforms... Get over it!)
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To: Flaming Conservative

Deport trash = less trash.

What a concept!

9 posted on 09/29/2025 1:23:51 PM PDT by Vigilanteman (The politicized state destroys many aspects of civil society, human kindness and private charity.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
Federal drug prosecutions fall to lowest level in decades...

Arrests are down because President Trump's enforcemet has reduced drug activity, to wit:


10 posted on 09/29/2025 1:27:31 PM PDT by Navy Patriot (President Trump Decisively Won Popular & E.C., Celebrate Recivilization!)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

I’m so old I can remember when Reuters demanded that drug prosecutions were racist


11 posted on 09/29/2025 1:31:07 PM PDT by Skywise
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To: maddog55; E. Pluribus Unum
Funny how Reuters can’t see the connection...

Rooters Sewer Service sees the connection perfectly clearly, they just Lie and spread Prog Leftist Democrat Disinformation.

the left is that stupid.

Yes, Leftists are so stupid they will believe Rooters Disinformation.

12 posted on 09/29/2025 1:34:18 PM PDT by Navy Patriot (President Trump Decisively Won Popular & E.C., Celebrate Recivilization!)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Wouldn’t there be fewer drug prosecutions if known drug cartel members and “workers” are being deported?


13 posted on 09/29/2025 1:59:12 PM PDT by lastchance (Cognovit Dominus qui sunt eius.)
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To: Navy Patriot

I stand corrected 🤣🤣🤣


14 posted on 09/29/2025 2:01:03 PM PDT by maddog55 (The only thing systemic in America is the left's hatred of it!)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Weird! This is like saying I am collecting less water in buckets. Should have never put a new roof on the house. Or in this case enforced the border instead of letting drugs get into the country.


15 posted on 09/29/2025 4:15:52 PM PDT by jimpick
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Fentanyl deaths are down a bit but cocaine and methamphetamine deaths are up. Drugs still a big problem in the US despite a more secure border. Much of the Fentanyl and cocaine is not coming by land anyway, it comes by air or sea and illegals have nothing to do with those transportation routes.


16 posted on 09/29/2025 5:17:32 PM PDT by XRdsRev (Justice for Bernell Trammell, black Trump supporter, executed in the street in broad daylight 2020.a)
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