Georgia Sen. Ossoff introduces bill to detect fentanyl at border

ATLANTA (WDEF) — Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff proposed a bill to help deploy scanners at the southern border to identify contraband, specifically fentanyl.

Sen. Jon Ossoff

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection spent millions of dollars on high-tech scanners to detect fentanyl at ports of entry along the border. But NBC News reported the scanners are sitting in warehouses because of a lack of funding to install them.

Sen. Ossoff’s Deploy Fentanyl Scanners Act of 2024 would set aside funding to install those scanners. He believes this will help prevent fentanyl from crossing the border through personal vehicles.

“Illegal fentanyl trafficking is devastating Georgia families and putting our kids at risk,” Sen. Ossoff said. “My new bill will surge new fentanyl detection resources to the border to help detect and prevent fentanyl from crossing the border.”

The amount of fentanyl seized at the southern border increased 480% from 2020 to 2023.

“In 2023, CBP seized 400,000 pounds of non-marijuana drugs, including 1,142,859 doses of fentanyl that were seized by the Atlanta Field Office alone,” according to Sen. Ossoff.