Mother speaks out on son’s fentanyl poisoning and efforts to spread awareness
Janel Rodriguez called on the Biden administration to put American lives first after her son died from fentanyl poisoning.
Less than a year after her son died of accidental fentanyl poisoning, Texas mother Janel Rodriguez is pleading with the White House to secure the U.S. southern border with the hopes of sparing other American families from suffering the same fate.
Rodriguez lost her 15-year-old son Noah on August 21, 2022, after he ingested a fentanyl pill he thought to be Percocet. The pill had been brought into the U.S. illegally from Mexico and contained 8 milligrams of the deadly drug, which amounts to four times the lethal dose.
In an interview on "America Reports" Thursday, Rodriguez pleaded with the White House to take action and prioritize American lives that she said have been threatened as a result of President Biden's open border policies.
"What I would like to say to the president is, something needs to happen down there, and I’m an American, we are Americans, and our people need to come first," Rodriguez pleaded. "I care about what happens in America and what happens to American families, and right now our children are dying because of the lack of security at the border."
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents seized over 1.2 million fentanyl pills between two busts on Dec. 29. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection)
Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids have become the primary cause of overdose deaths in the U.S. and it’s estimated that over 110,000 occurred between August 2021 and August 2022 – a stunning record for a single 12-month period.
Rodriguez and her husband Brandon Dunn co-founded the Forever 15 Project to educate parents on the dangers of the deadly drug. She said she has been overwhelmed by the response to the non-profit organization launched in her son's memory, which among other things, has served as a network for parents who've experienced fentanyl-related tragedies.
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"It’s probably one of the best decisions we decided to do…we are getting so much feedback from parents across the nation sharing their stories with us, just applauding us for our efforts and [from those who] want to get involved," she said.
Fentanyl seized at the U.S. port of entry in Nogales, Arizona. (U.S Customs and Border Protection)
Dunn, who testified about his family's experience with the fentanyl crisis in the House border hearing on Wednesday, expressed a similar sentiment on "Fox & Friends" Thursday.
"It’s real. And fentanyl has been around for 5-7 years but it hasn’t been an issue like it’s become beginning roughly two years ago," he said, adding that he wishes the White House would recognize that "it’s not just another drug. It's very powerful and it's very deadly."
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Dunn said he supports doing "whatever it takes" to stop the flow of the synthetic opioid into the country.
"Increase[ing border] security and decrease[ing] the amount of this coming into the country is what we need right now," he said.
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