In his Nov. 24 op-ed, Seattle conservative commentator Jason Rantz puts a sharp spotlight on what he frames as the overlooked reality of Washington’s fentanyl pipeline: that major trafficking networks are increasingly being run or staffed by illegal immigrants.

Rantz reports that federal agents dismantled two international drug rings in October—one tied to Ecuador, the other to Mexico—resulting in more than 18 arrests and the seizure of millions of lethal fentanyl doses, narcotics, illegal firearms, and even an improvised explosive device.

Rantz writes that the central revelation is that “many of the suspects… are in this country illegally,” a detail he says federal officials had not previously made public. U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd confirmed to The Jason Rantz Show that not all suspects are U.S. citizens and that investigators routinely discover unlawful status during arrests.

Floyd argued that the public deserves clarity about who is behind these crimes, even as investigations themselves are not driven by immigration status. As he told Rantz, “It’s fair for the public to know… the Trump administration is not wrong about the fact that many of the people that are here illegally are committing crimes, and very serious crimes.”

The Ecuador-linked Gutama Escandon network pushing fentanyl and meth across the Puget Sound region, and the Mexico-connected ring in rural Lewis County tied to 105,000 fentanyl pills and 34 kilograms of powder—amounts the DEA equates to more than 3 million potentially deadly doses, according to 770AM.

For Rantz, the takeaway is blunt. These cases show that Washington’s fentanyl crisis cannot be separated from immigration realities, despite political narratives that portray illegal immigrants as uniformly harmless.

By surfacing details federal authorities acknowledge but often do not publicize, Rantz argues the public can better understand the forces driving the drug epidemic devastating communities across the state.