Mexican cartels, by sending massive amounts of deadly fentanyl across the southern border, "are the enemy of our children," but the dire situation is not being treated as an emergency or with the seriousness it deserves, Derek Maltz, a former Drug Enforcement Agency director of operations, said on Newsmax, Friday.
"They need to be held accountable," Maltz told Newsmax's "John Bachman Now." "People are not taking this seriously and then acting with a sense of urgency … what are we waiting for?"
Border Patrol agents earlier this week seized 1.2 million fentanyl pills at the Port of Nogales, Ariz., including 541,000 fentanyl pills in one vehicle and over 689,000 pills in another, reports Fox News. Four pounds of fentanyl powder were also seized.
"We have a fentanyl emergency in America every day," said Maltz, adding that there is "no rule of law" in Mexico when it comes to the cartels.
"We're going to have to be way more aggressive in America and we'll have to start pushing the Mexican government to after those labs and after those cartel leaders," he added.
The cartels have a particular stronghold in Arizona, "because it's an open border and our CBP is overloaded," said Maltz, noting that "the DEA in Phoenix alone seized over 22 million pills" this year.
Meanwhile, Maltz said he's long called for the government to declare the Mexican cartels at terrorists, and that former President Donald Trump had considered that, but "the Washington bureaucrats convinced him it was way too aggressive."
At the same time, hundreds of people are dying from fentanyl emergencies, "so we have a national emergency," Maltz said.
About NEWSMAX TV:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America!
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.