Bergen-Cico Weighs In on Trump’s Claim That Drug Trafficking by Sea is Down 98.2% in AP Article

April 17, 2026

The Associated Press

Dessa Bergen-Cico

Public Health Department

Federal

Substance Use and Addiction

United States

The Associated Press

A smiling person with curly blonde hair, wearing a black top with gold embroidery.

Dessa Bergen-Cico

President Donald Trump has claimed that 98.2% of drugs entering the U.S. by sea have been stopped, but experts say he misrepresented U.S. Customs and Border Protection data, which only shows a drop in drug seizures between specific months—not total trafficking.

Researchers emphasize that seizure data reflects interdiction activity, not the total volume of drugs entering the country, and the true amount of undetected trafficking cannot be determined.

“Drug seizure data measure interdiction activity, not actual trafficking volume,” says Dessa Bergen-Cico, professor of public health. “As drug policy researchers have noted, no one knows how much goes uncaught, and changes in seizure data are insufficient to make definitive claims about policy outcomes.”

Read more in the Associated Press article, “FACT FOCUS: Trump says drug trafficking by sea is down 98.2%. The numbers don’t show that.”