President Donald Trump said his planned U.S.-Mexico border wall will curtail the drug gangs that have "literally taken over towns and cities of the United States."
"The drug epidemic is poisoning too many American lives, and we're going to stop it in many different ways. One of them will be the wall," Trump said after a meeting with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, The Washington Times reports.
Trump added that crime associated with the illegal drug trade is a "dangerous threat to our societies."
He called for international cooperation in pursuing smugglers and for infrastructure to keep them out of the U.S. in the first place.
The Times reports that while illegal immigration across the U.S.-Mexico border has dropped "dramatically" under Trump, the trade of heroin and other narcotics is increasing.
The newspaper says that in Texas, border officials last week reported a 177 percent increase in heroin and a 129 percent increase in cocaine seized by agents and officers so far this year.
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