Trump’s Border Crackdown Just Slashed Cartel Income by $3 Billion, and 10,000 Americans Didn’t Die From Fentanyl

The numbers are in, and they tell a story that no amount of Democratic talking points can spin away.

FinCEN — the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network — analyzed bank reports of suspicious transactions linked to suspected human smuggling. They identified 67,540 reports totaling nearly $5 billion. The overwhelming majority occurred in 2023 and 2024, under Biden, when more than 7,000 suspicious transaction reports were flagged every quarter. By the second half of 2025, after Trump’s policies had fully taken hold, fewer than 2,000 reports were flagged per quarter.

Current Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the numbers prove President Trump has put the smugglers “on the defensive.” That is the understatement of the year. The cartels built their business model on Biden’s open border. They charged per person, per load, per crossing. When Biden was president, the crossings were so frequent and so numerous that cartel income from human smuggling hit historic highs. Close the border, enforce the law, and the revenue stream dries up. Supply and demand applies to criminal enterprises too.