For two years, our nation has been combating the COVID-19 pandemic, which has tragically claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans. Families across eastern North Carolina have adapted their daily routines to combat this public health crisis, which has overwhelmingly targeted seniors and those with preexisting conditions and comorbidities.

There is, however, another devastating reality that has failed to make headlines: Fentanyl is killing more young Americans than COVID-19.

For the first time in the history of the United States, our nation surpassed 100,000 overdoses in a 12-month period. Of those 100,000 overdose fatalities reported from April 2020 to April 2021, over 64,000 deaths were due to fentanyl — a synthetic opioid that is 80 to 100 times stronger than morphine.

Disturbingly, fentanyl has quickly and quietly become the leading cause of death among adults ages 18-45. Between April 2020 to April 2021, fentanyl claimed 40,010 lives — resulting in almost twice as many deaths in the 18-45 age range as COVID-19 (21,335), cancer (17,114), car accidents (22,442), and suicide (21,678) respectively.

The vast majority of fentanyl is manufactured in China and enters the United States via the southwest border. In fact, the Drug Enforcement Agency reports that an astounding 80 percent of fentanyl in America comes into our country through the U.S.-Mexico border.

Fentanyl is often the supplemental drug of choice for smugglers and dealers, as the illicit synthetic opioid is cheaper than heroin and nearly 50 times as potent. It doesn’t just stop at pure fentanyl. The National Institute on Drug Abuse reported that last year, in 75 percent of cocaine deaths and 50 percent of methamphetamine deaths, the drugs were mixed with fentanyl.

There is no doubt that the compounding border crisis is exacerbating the illicit fentanyl stream into America. In 2021 alone, border officials encountered nearly 2 million illegal immigrants, seizing 11,201 pounds of fentanyl — a 134 percent increase from fiscal year 2020, and a 400 percent increase since fiscal year 2018.

Border patrol officers have reported that while fentanyl seizures are up, the price of fentanyl on the street has dropped 50 percent — indicating a serious influx in supply. While our U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents are demonstrating a herculean effort to intercept deadly drugs, it is clear that more needs to be done.

The flood of fentanyl into America via our southern border has turned every community into a border community — and the consequences are close to home.

In December, a Lenoir County man was arrested with 3,500 fentanyl pills in his possession. Just two weeks ago, a Washington, N.C., man was sentenced to 20 years in prison for using the dark web to distribute counterfeit drugs that contained fentanyl. At the time of his arrest, he was found with over 1,500 fentanyl-laced pills.

Our law enforcement officers are working tirelessly to keep these lethal drugs off the streets, and their efforts must be commended. Unfortunately, an open border means a new challenge each and every day to intercept dangerous fentanyl and fentanyl-laced substances.

Tragically, fentanyl fatally poisons one person in America every 8.57 minutes, killing 175 people every single day. The need to address this crisis is more important now than ever. We must bolster public health intervention efforts to educate eastern North Carolinians about the dangers of fentanyl, and support law enforcement efforts to intercept the deadly opioid as it floods across the border into our neighborhoods.

It is clear to me as both a lawmaker and a physician of more than 30 years that the most important way to get the fentanyl drug crisis under control is by first securing our southern border. I call on the Biden Administration to take swift and decisive action to enforce our rule of law and reinstate common sense border protections as a matter of national security and public health.

U.S. Rep. Greg Murphy represents North Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District. He is a practicing physician of more than 30 years, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, and vice chairman of the House GOP Doctors Caucus.