Headline Roundup • March 22nd, 2025
Are Egg Seizures Outpacing Fentanyl at the Border?
Media Industry,Media Literacy,Misinformation,Food Prices,Fentanyl,Drug Overdoses,US-Mexico Border,Public Health,CBP,Bias By Omission
Summary from the AllSides News Team
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reportedly conducted a greater number of egg seizures than fentanyl seizures in recent months, with instances of egg smuggling at the US-Mexico Border increasing 36% this fiscal year.
The Details: Overdose deaths in the US have declined by about 25% from October 2023-24 compared to the previous year, according to provisional data, possibly indicating less illegal drugs making their way past border security; however the claim throughout the media that more eggs were seized than fentanyl is a misleading statistic and unsound claim that can lead to misinformation. The number of seizures themselves is higher for eggs, but factors such as quantification and method of smuggling are critical pieces of data that largely debunk the claim. For instance, CBP measures egg products by number and fentanyl by weight.
For Context: Egg prices are high in the US, despite a recent drop in wholesale costs. The importation of eggs from other countries is prohibited in the US due to disease concerns. The “bird flu” (Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza [HPAI]) has already killed millions of domestic birds in the US and contributed to the rising egg and poultry prices. Most of the egg seizures are reportedly from travelers declaring the products rather than secretive smuggling operations.
How The Media Covered It: New York Post (Lean Right bias) and USA Today (Lean Left) lead with the misleading statistics in sensationalist styles. They did not note the recent drop in wholesale egg prices and focused on consumer costs. Snopes (Lean Left) noted that comparisons of the physical amount of eggs and fentanyl seized are not directly possible due to CBP’s differing methods of measurement.
Revised by the AllSides staff (of humans) after a first draft from our custom AI. Learn more. Support our mission.
Featured Coverage of this Story
That’s an eggshell-ent development.
US border agents have seized more eggs than fentanyl in recent months as President Trump ramped up security to stop the flow of the deadly opioid — and egg prices have surged as high as $15 a carton.
Since October, border agents have seized 3,768 poultry-related products, whereas there were only 352 instances of fentanyl being confiscated, according to the Telegraph...
Federal data shows that eggs are being seized at U.S. borders more than the synthetic opioid fentanyl, a trend occurring amid an ongoing bird flu outbreak causing poultry shortages across the nation.
According to data collected by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), there have been 5,572 egg product seizures so far this fiscal year. There were about 15,955 such interceptions in fiscal year 2024 and 16,541 in fiscal year 2023, the data shows.
In contrast, border patrol officers have conducted 413 drug seizure events involving fentanyl, which equates to 6,184 pounds of the opioid, in fiscal...
Image courtesy of Getty Images / U.S. Customs and Border Patrol / Snopes Illustration
In March 2025, rumors spread online comparing U.S. Customs and Border Protection seizures of eggs with those of fentanyl.
While some posts claimed U.S. officials were seizing more eggs than fentanyl during border crossings into the United States, others alleged officials are catching people with eggs more often than they are with fentanyl. "U.S. Customs and Border Protection humiliates Donald Trump by revealing that their officers are busting more people smuggling eggs into America than fentanyl," a Facebook post by Occupy Democrats said...
