EXCLUSIVE: Fentanyl deaths plunge 22% as Trump White House touts crackdown on deadly drug crisis

EXCLUSIVE: Fentanyl-linked deaths plunged 22% in a single year as the Trump White House credits its border crackdown, campaign against drug cartels and arrests of convicted fentanyl traffickers for helping drive down the deadly toll.

Synthetic opioid deaths , which include fentanyl, fell from 48,913 in 2024 to 38,084 in 2025, according to CDC figures cited by the White House — a decline of more than 10,000 deaths.

Total drug overdose deaths fell 14% during the same period, from 81,313 to 69,973.

The Trump administration provided the figures to Fox News Digital in honor of National Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day on Friday, pointing to the decline as evidence its border and counter-narcotics policies are disrupting the flow of fentanyl into American communities.

PRESIDENT TRUMP’S DRUG CONTROL STRATEGY SETS THE PATH TO END THE DRUG CRISIS FOR GOOD "President [Donald] Trump targeted cartels who were profiting off the death of Americans, secured our border to stop Fentanyl and other illicit drugs from flowing into our communities and jump-started ICE to arrest illegal alien fentanyl traffickers," White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis told Fox News Digital.

"These policies delivered a 22% decline in opioid deaths in a single year.

Thanks to President Trump, America is finally winning the fight against fentanyl," she added.

MASSIVE MEXICO-CALIFORNIA BORDER BUSTS UNCOVER EYE-POPPING AMOUNT OF DRUGS: 'REMAIN VIGILANT' The White House also pointed to a 45% decline in nationwide fentanyl seizures in fiscal year 2025 compared with the previous year.

The administration characterized the drop as evidence that disruption further up the supply chain is reducing the amount of the drug reaching the U.S. border.

DEA testing cited by the administration also found 29% of seized fentanyl pills contained a potentially lethal dose, down from 76% two years earlier.

The White House attributed the declining potency to pressure on trafficking networks .

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SAYS FEDERAL AUTHORITIES HAVE ARRESTED MORE THAN 10,000 SUSPECTED GANG MEMBERS The administration also shared the cases of 11 foreign nationals arrested by ICE this year who the Department of Homeland Security ( DHS ) says had previous fentanyl-related convictions.

The administration highlighted the February ICE arrest of Julio Cesar Pimentel-German , a Dominican Republic national whom DHS says had previously been convicted in Massachusetts of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, trafficking fentanyl and a firearms offense.