What happens to illegal drugs, guns and cash seized at the border? (2024)

(NewsNation) — Border agents have intercepted thousands of illegal items including drugs, guns and illicit cash being smuggled into the U.S. this year, but handling that contraband can take many paths.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents seized over 273,000 pounds of drugs, nearly 2,000 weapons and over $22 million in illegal currency this year, data showed.

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CBP works with other state and federal agencies to make sure these items are handled safely, and the process involves strict and sometimes lengthy processes, an agency spokesperson told NewsNation.

How are drugs handled by Border Patrol?

When drugs are seized at the border, they are immediately tested to identify what the substance is, the agency said.

After that, the path the drug takes depends on if there is further investigation and prosecution, according to CBP.

If there is an investigation and potential prosecution, CBP holds the drugs as evidence in its vault, the agency said. It could be the entire batch or just a sample of the seizure, depending on what the prosecutor requests.

Last year, CBP seized nearly 600,000 pounds of illegal drugs, which was down by about 16% from seizures in 2022, according to federal data.

More than half was seized along the southern border last year, and marijuana, methamphetamine, cocaine and fentanyl were the largest amount of drugs seized last year, data showed.

Law enforcement says Mexican drug cartels are getting more creative in trying to hide loads of illicit drugs to bring illegally across the border into the United States.

In December, Border Patrol agents in California’s El Centro Sectorseized 218 pounds of liquid methamphetamine, totaling nearly $3.5 million, that was found inside the gas tank of a vehicle attempting to smuggle the drug through the checkpoint.

The drugs can only be destroyed once the case officially closes, which can take years at times.

Keeping the drugs that long requires extensive oversight. Seized narcotics are weighed frequently — sometimes without warning — to ensure they haven’t been tampered with.

If there is no prosecution, the drugs are destroyed as soon as possible.

CBP pays contractors to incinerate the drugs, and that process is closely overseen by a security team that watches the burning from start to finish, the agency said.

What happens to illegal cash and currency seized at the border?

Once the agency completes an investigation and determines that seized cash was used for illegal activity and not as a result of failing to declare the money, the currency goes to the Treasury Forfeiture Fund, an account with the Department of Treasury, CBP said.

The Treasury Executive Office for Asset Forfeiture administers the Treasury Forfeiture Fund, which was established in 1992, according to a 2023 report from the Treasury Department.

Money deposited into this fund is used for several reasons, including to pay state and local law enforcement agencies that helped seize the funds, compensate victims where the seized assets represent the proceeds of fraud schemes and cover the operating costs of maintaining the fund, according to the report.

The fund also allows its participating agencies to meet “unanticipated needs created by COVID-19 related crimes, to ensure that the agencies have the resources to target and intercept these massive schemes and return the money to the defrauded government agencies, private entities and individuals,” the report stated.

In 2023, over $800 million was in the Treasury Forfeiture Fund.

Last year, CBP seized more than $53 million in undeclared or illicit currency, which can be proceeds from alleged illicit activity or currency that funds transnational criminal organizations, federal data showed.

Where do all the weapons, contraband seized by CBP go?

The weapons and ammunition that are found to be illegal by border agents are forfeited, the agency said. Once that occurs, the title on those weapons goes to the government, after which the weapons are promptly destroyed, usually by melting, a CPB spokesperson said.

The melting is conducted by contractors but overseen in its entirety by a CBP team, the agency said.

CBP data showed that agents intercepted more than 3,300 guns and over 547,000 gun parts and ammunition before they crossed the border last year.

Ninety-five percent, or 1,176, of those guns were stopped at the U.S.-Mexico border, according to data. That amount reflects a massive seven fold increase from 2019,when CBP intercepted 173 guns, The Trace reported.

“U.S. firearms trafficked into Mexico, along with the U.S.’s high demand for illegal drugs, contribute to security and drug crises on both sides of the border,” the U.S. Government Accountability Office said in a 2023 report on American security aid to Mexico.