‘El Paso is a ground zero for much of this’: DEA chief says meth is Borderland’s top drug threat

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- The Drug Enforcement Administration has seized hundreds of pounds of meth in the West Texas/New Mexico region already this year. It's part of the DEA's Operation Crystal Shield.

Now, ABC-7 is learning new details about the operation. ABC-7 was the only English-language television station in the Borderland to speak with the DEA's new Acting Administrator Timothy Shea about the biggest threats to the region, and how the agency is responding.

"Meth is by far the biggest threat here in El Paso," he said, "but it's also a huge threat around the country."

Shea said stopping the illegal trade of methamphetamine in the United States starts in part in El Paso.

"We've got three major drug cartels operating in very close proximity, which increases the volume of the drugs imported and the violence that goes along with it," Shea said.

When the operation was launched in February, the DEA reported that meth seizures had increased by 42% in the region since last year. Shea credits more effective enforcement strategies and increased trafficking.

"I think we're seeing an increase in volume that the cartels want to sell more of this drug," he said. "It's cheaper for them to produce and easier for them to transport across the border."

Making things easier is the fact meth can transported in liquid form.

It's not just drugs that the agency is targeting in El Paso as part of Operation Crystal Shield.

"We had over a hundred investigations, 175 arrests as a result of Operation Crystal Shield, a thousand pounds meth and over a million dollars in cash in addition to guns. A serious amount of guns," Shea said. "There's a lot of violence associated with meth too."

Shea said some of that violence is being pushed into the United States.

"I think part of it is directly by the cartels that operate here. I mean, they operate well into the United States, into the Heartland of America, coming through El Paso and other areas, but they also engage gangs within the United States to help them distribute drugs. They commit the violence." Shea said. "That's what they see in El Paso: where the gangs that are hired by the cartels are a part of their muscle and part of the violence that they use to enforce their drug trade here in the United States."

Shea credits border restrictions during the pandemic with disrupting drug trafficking, but he warns the restrictions did not stop the drug trade.

"We've not only seen the impact here with users and with the use of meth in El Paso, but it's a trend shipment point where you see meth in large volume coming through and going to the other parts of the country," Shea said. "If we're going to deal with the problem in the United States, El Paso is a ground zero for much of this."