Families Against Fentanyl, Coalition of Law Enforcement and Drug Advocacy Groups Urge Congress to Close De Minimis Loophole to Address Fentanyl Crisis

Loophole Allows International Shipments to Enter U.S. with Virtually No Inspection or Documentation

Shipments Using This Loophole Skyrocketed to One Billion Per Year in 2023, Posing "Unacceptable Risk"

WASHINGTON — Families Against Fentanyl, along with a coalition of law enforcement and national nonprofit and community-based organizations devoted to fighting against the fentanyl crisis plaguing our nation, sent a letter to the leaders of the House and Senate urging them to take immediate action to close the de minimis loophole, which is contributing to the current drug crisis, including the importation of deadly fentanyl, that is plaguing American families and communities. This Wednesday at 3:00 PM, U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) is leading House Ways and Means Committee Democrats in a roundtable on the de minimis loophole, which will be live streamed here.

Signatories of the letter include Families Against Fentanyl, National Sheriffs’ Association, National Association of Police Organizations, the Coalition for a Prosperous America, Lost Voices of Fentanyl, Shatterproof, Kelsie’s Cause, Facing Fentanyl, VOID, and Voices for Awareness/Facing Fentanyl. Read the full letter HERE.

Section 321 of the Tariff Act of 1930, known commonly as "de minimis," allows individual packages to be shipped directly to American consumers with virtually no inspection or documentation and free of duty if the contents are valued beneath the de minimis threshold of $800. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), imports using the de minimis loophole include "high-risk shipments that may contain narcotics, merchandise that pose a risk to public safety, counterfeits, or other contraband." Shipments using this loophole skyrocketed in recent years from 150 million shipments per year in 2016 to more than one billion shipments per year in 2023, posing an "unacceptable risk to the American people" per CBP.

"Fentanyl is the #1 killer of Americans 18-45 and it's devastating families across the country. Drug and fentanyl deaths reached an all time high in 2023. We must do more to stop illicit fentanyl before it reaches our streets -- and increasing oversight of international shipments is one commonsense step to do that," said Jim Rauh, founder of Families Against Fentanyl, whose son was killed by fentanyl shipped from China directly to a dealer in Ohio. "Almost all illicit fentanyl is manufactured outside the United States before it is slipped into knock-off prescription pills and street drugs, killing unsuspecting Americans. But right now, these low dollar international shipments are flooding into our country with virtually no inspection or documentation. Closing the de minimis loophole for international shipments is a necessary step to increase oversight of these packages and save American lives."

"We are writing as a coalition of associations fighting the growing and deadly problem of narcotic poisonings in the United States," the coalition letter states. "Our coalition represents both the families of victims of illicit drugs and associations advocating on behalf of domestic law enforcement officers. We have united to ask you, as Congressional leaders, to immediately advance legislation to close the de minimis provision in U.S. trade law that is helping to fuel the current drug crisis devastating American families and communities and exhausting the resources of U.S. law enforcement. Closing the de minimis provision by decoupling all e-commerce transactions for qualifying for de minimis treatment is the only way to comprehensively address these issues."

CBP recently stated that the agency "continues to see bad actors seeking to exploit the increasing volumes of de minimis shipments to transit illicit goods, including fentanyl and the precursors and paraphernalia used to manufacture it."
 

"Along with the rise of e-commerce and mass distribution shippers, this provision has exploded in popularity creating a supercharged black-market for counterfeit products, goods produced with slave labor, hazardous materials, and illicit drugs," the coalition letter continues. "Considering the fact that U.S. law enforcement resources are already being exhausted to combat this critical threat, coupled with the devastating impact fentanyl is having to families across the United States, we must immediately close this backdoor that is facilitating small packages of virtually uninspected boxes containing illicit drugs to our doorsteps."

Despite expectations that drug and fentanyl deaths would decrease after the pandemic, a Families Against Fentanyl analysis of CDC data found that fentanyl deaths reached a new high in 2023, with increases in at least 31 states. In December 2021, Families Against Fentanyl (FAF) released its groundbreaking finding that fentanyl was the number one cause of death among Americans ages 18 to 45. Fentanyl continues to be the number one cause of death of Americans 18 to 45 and the new data from the CDC shows deaths are continuing to increase.

Michael Stumo, CEO of CPA, recently testified in front of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability on how the de minimis loophole is contributing to the nation’s fentanyl crisis. Earlier this month, Stumo wrote in an op-ed that "the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) estimates that the fentanyl being shipped directly to U.S. homes is extremely potent — often with more than 90 percent purity. That’s far stronger than the average 10 percent concentration for fentanyl seized at the border."

"In short, as long as this provision exists, CBP officials have virtually no means of stopping the importation of illicit drugs, such as fentanyl, and other dangerous substances that are imported under the de minimis provision," the coalition letter outlines. "From a law enforcement perspective, nearly 3 million de minimis shipments entering the U.S. each day, 60% of which are coming from China,  this gaping loophole is straining our enforcement capabilities and already thin resources to a point where we cannot credibly address the deadly fentanyl crisis."

According to the State Department, "Illicit fentanyl shipments directly shipped to the United States via air cargo, international mail, and express consignment are high-purity, low-weight shipments destined for criminal groups or individuals in the United States. Most originate in China with suppliers who use international mail consolidators to mask the origin of the shipments."
 

"Fentanyl-related poisonings alone accounted for a devastating two-thirds of the 106,699 total drug-related deaths that occurred in 2021, based on NIH data. Due to the magnitude of this problem and the devastating impact it is having on American families and communities, we are requesting that Congress take immediate legislative action to address this dangerous provision," the coalition letter concludes. "Specifically, we request that e-commerce transactions be delinked from Section 321 privileges since that is the vehicle used to facilitate these deadly packages."

Last month, the coalition sent a similar letter to President Joe Biden urging him to take executive action. Yesterday, CPA's Michael Stumo joined Fox News to discuss how the de minimis loophole is fueling America's fentanyl crisis and how the Biden Administration has the power to close it.

There are multiple bipartisan bills before Congress that would serve as an urgent tourniquet by prohibiting de minimis shipments directly from China. U.S. Representatives Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Neal Dunn (R-FL) were joined by U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) in introducing the Import Security and Fairness Act to stop China and Russia from exploiting the de minimis threshold and require Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to collect more information on de minimis shipments. This bill was included in the trade title of the House China bill that passed in February 2022.

Senators Bill Cassidy, (R-LA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and JD Vance (R-OH) introduced the De Minimis Reciprocity Act of 2023 which will limit the damage from the increasingly notorious de minimis loophole that enables foreign vendors anywhere in the world to ship into the United States without submitting to basic customs declarations or paying the duties U.S. brick-and-mortar retailers are required to pay. 

Families Against Fentanyl is a non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness of the illicit fentanyl crisis and advocating for federal action, including calling for a White House taskforce on the fentanyl and drug crisis and urging the U.S. to designate illicit fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction. The organization was founded by James Rauh of Akron, Ohio after his son was killed by fentanyl poisoning in 2015. Families Against Fentanyl has become a leading voice for fentanyl awareness, bringing together thousands of families and producing research cited by leaders across the United States and around the world.