FACT FOCUS: Trump says drug trafficking by sea is down 98.2%. The numbers don't show that

Source: Associated Press
FACT FOCUS: Trump says drug trafficking by sea is down 98.2%. The numbers don’t show that

By MELISSA GOLDIN
Updated 11:52 AM EDT, April 17, 2026

President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that the flow of drugs into the U.S. by sea has been nearly eradicated under his administration.

He echoed the sentiment in a Truth Social post this week, writing that 98.2% of drugs smuggled in via such routes have “stopped.”

Asked for the source of Trump’s statistic, the White House directed The Associated Press to Customs and Border Protection data on drug seizures.

But experts say Trump is misrepresenting the CBP data and that the real number can’t be known because it is impossible to determine how many drugs are not intercepted.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-trump-drug-trafficking-ocean-sea-3a43c6b41f513510aeb786a8097e7e0d